Hi friends and family,
It has been a crazy week since we got our referral. Things are still sinking in. A few things I want to share and then a long list of prayer requests. Since last week we have found out more information... First a fun fact: Ayantu means "blessed for the future" which I think is so cool! Now onto info: it looks like the courts will open back up in mid-October, our case is already filed at the court house and we have a file number. When the courts open back up we will get a court date. I know of another family with our agency who got their referral at the end of July and have a court date set for early November (and remember the courts are shut down August/September/and 1/2 October... so that's not a lot of wait time in between referral and court)! As we realized our court could be as soon as December, January, or February we also realized it will just be Aaron going. Which means Sophie will come home on a different visa since we are both not going to be present in court. Well... this means we need to do more paperwork and foster home licensing here in IL. Which means more chances for hold-ups delays. This whole process is making my head spin, and I am trying not to worry about all the millions of things that could go wrong, so this is where I need prayer!!! Lots of prayer!!! Here are some things to please be praying about:
-That our extra paper-work/licensing here in IL would go smoothly and quickly and not delay anything.
-That our court date would not coincide with my due date (we obviously want Aaron here for the birth).
-That there wouldn't be any complications to my not being able to be present for court.
-That Aaron and I would both trust God's plan/hand/timing in all this.
-Ultimately: that God's plan in all this will be accomplished and to His glory!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Glorious day!!!!
It's been pretty quiet on the adoption front since all the major delays happened in Ethiopia back in March... We continued to pester Radu every month for information, but it was slow coming. In June we were told that the orphanage possibly had a child for us, but it was early in the works... We waited... In July we were told the orphanage did have a child matched to us, but still needed paperwork on her... We waited... In August we hear NOTHING! We waited... 2 days ago I emailed Radu, pleading with him for any information or possible timeline on our case... ANYTHING!!! Yesterday I checked my email every 5 minutes hoping for a response... nada! At around 1:30pm today my parents and I headed to Aaron's school to meet his 4th grade class. When we pulled into the parking lot I glanced at my phone and noticed an email... from Radu.... I opened it quickly to see what it was regarding and the first line read: "see attached: your child information." STUNNED!!! That's the only word to describe how I felt/feel. I didn't look at it any further as we needed to get into Aaron's class. Waiting impatiently for Aaron and his class to return from the library, I tried to process this huge thing. As Aaron's class filed in I quickly and quietly told Aaron what I had received. Aaron looked like I felt, and said "that's a lot of information to take in..." We spent a fun 1/2 hour doing Q&A with Aaron's students, in the back of my mind I still could not even take in what was happening. Once the class got on the buses we pulled up the information on my phone... Little Ayantu, 3 months old and not even weighing 8lbs. I can't even explain what it was like to look at this precious baby who will be our daughter!!!! She is beautiful and perfect in every way. I wish I could post pictures for the whole world to see her adorable face! (Unfortunately I can't post pictures until we go through the legal court process, but let me just assure you that she is PERFECT in EVERY WAY!).
What's next? Well right now the courts are shut down in Ethiopia for the rainy season, as soon as that ends we will be added to the cue, and find out how soon we can go through court (I am sure this will be after the New Year). Once we travel and go through the Ethiopian courts we will come home and wait to get an Embassy date. We will go back for the Embassy hearing and (Lord willing) bring her home with us!!!! I am hoping that we will have Sophie Ayantu Bernadine Owens back home with us before this time next year!
P.S. Most of you know, but just a side note, Sophie Ayantu will be a big sister when she comes home. Her little sister Claire is expected Christmas Day of this year. They will only be about 7 months apart! We are still in so much shock... I will post more info soon, but for now I just want to say Glory to God in the highest, He has a plan for this family and He is faithful and will carry it to completion!!!!
What's next? Well right now the courts are shut down in Ethiopia for the rainy season, as soon as that ends we will be added to the cue, and find out how soon we can go through court (I am sure this will be after the New Year). Once we travel and go through the Ethiopian courts we will come home and wait to get an Embassy date. We will go back for the Embassy hearing and (Lord willing) bring her home with us!!!! I am hoping that we will have Sophie Ayantu Bernadine Owens back home with us before this time next year!
P.S. Most of you know, but just a side note, Sophie Ayantu will be a big sister when she comes home. Her little sister Claire is expected Christmas Day of this year. They will only be about 7 months apart! We are still in so much shock... I will post more info soon, but for now I just want to say Glory to God in the highest, He has a plan for this family and He is faithful and will carry it to completion!!!!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Continued Delays...
We were told back in March that we would receive our match sometime in April. Well, April came and went, and now so has May. We have been in contact with our agency many times, and they say the reason is because of the changes in what’s happening with the Ethiopian government. The orphanages are now required to gather more documentation on the children that are matched with a family. Apparently the orphanage where our child lives is still trying to collect all the documentation on her. So, we continue to wait. Meanwhile, the delays in the government continue to get longer and longer. They are still trying to process all the adoptions that went through court before April 5th!!! Which means it will be a long while before they get to cases like ours that haven’t even begun the official court process yet. We had one other hiccup that we were concerned might terminate the process altogether, but (thank the Lord!) it didn’t end up being a problem! I will share the details of that in the weeks to come, but we are still waiting on a few details to be worked out. And now for the question that everyone keeps asking: So when will we finally get to bring our little one home from Ethiopia? Frankly, I just don’t know. Only God does! I have a gut feeling it probably won’t be till next year sometime… maybe next spring or summer… but then again, I may be surprised and things may pick up a bit…. Please continue to keep us, Sophie, and the whole adoption process in your prayers!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Dazed and Confused….
So much has been going on, and I haven’t really had the energy to blog. Now that I do, I am so confused and I will probably just confuse all of you! Oh well, you can be confused with me and we’ll all be in good company.
A few weeks ago I requested that everyone sign a petition to get the government of Ethiopia to change their mind about some decisions that were made. The government made a decision to reduce the number of adoptions they process per day from about 40-50 down to 5. The US government adoption website is telling people who have submitted paperwork but have not yet received a referral of a child (which is us) that they could experience delays of up to a year or more. I was devastated to hear this! If you’re curious, here’s where you can read all about it: http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/alerts_notices.php read the alert from 3/9 and the notice from 3/16.
So, Aaron and I were sad (to say the least), we’ve been trying to get people to sign the petition, but haven’t seen any good news coming from the US government website of the Joint Council of Adoption. We’d pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that this wasn’t happening ANY time soon. It’s been rough.
Then… Yesterday I get a phone call from Jocelyn (our local social worker who did our home study). She asks me: “Since there is so much going on in Ethiopia, would you be willing to adopt domestically? We do not have enough families in IL who are willing to adopt children of a different race, and have an abundance of kids who need homes.” I was surprised, and thought, well if Adoption Avenues would allow us to discontinue the program and we could get some of what we’ve invested in the program back then maybe… but we couldn’t afford to do lose what we’ve invested and then turn around and pay the same amount for a domestic adoption.
So… I called Radu. Radu and I haven’t had much contact since all of this happened in Ethiopia. I tried to call, but couldn’t get through when I first heard word. I emailed and asked how this would affect our adoption and he responded by saying “You know that I will let you know, when we know FOR SURE what is going on.” So I call him yesterday and explained what Jocelyn had told me. I asked what my options were. He told me that if we backed out now we would lose everything we had invested. He asked why we would be tempted to do this. I told him because of the delays. So he went into explaining that this would NOT delay our referral (he’s expecting that next month). And that IF it delayed anything, it would delay the time between our first trip out: to go through the court process and our second trip out: when we can legally take her home. I’m confused. Why does the US government explain it differently? And if Radu is right does that mean families will be delayed up to a year or more between when they legally adopt their child in the country and when they can bring their child home? HOW SAD!!! Why would they keep a child who has been legally adopted by a family in the orphanage system for an additional year?!?! Is Radu right? Will we receive our referral next month? Will we still be going to Ethiopia this summer to meet our child and go through court? Will we have to leave our child there after that? How long will we have to wait to bring her home?
A few weeks ago I requested that everyone sign a petition to get the government of Ethiopia to change their mind about some decisions that were made. The government made a decision to reduce the number of adoptions they process per day from about 40-50 down to 5. The US government adoption website is telling people who have submitted paperwork but have not yet received a referral of a child (which is us) that they could experience delays of up to a year or more. I was devastated to hear this! If you’re curious, here’s where you can read all about it: http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/alerts_notices.php read the alert from 3/9 and the notice from 3/16.
So, Aaron and I were sad (to say the least), we’ve been trying to get people to sign the petition, but haven’t seen any good news coming from the US government website of the Joint Council of Adoption. We’d pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that this wasn’t happening ANY time soon. It’s been rough.
Then… Yesterday I get a phone call from Jocelyn (our local social worker who did our home study). She asks me: “Since there is so much going on in Ethiopia, would you be willing to adopt domestically? We do not have enough families in IL who are willing to adopt children of a different race, and have an abundance of kids who need homes.” I was surprised, and thought, well if Adoption Avenues would allow us to discontinue the program and we could get some of what we’ve invested in the program back then maybe… but we couldn’t afford to do lose what we’ve invested and then turn around and pay the same amount for a domestic adoption.
So… I called Radu. Radu and I haven’t had much contact since all of this happened in Ethiopia. I tried to call, but couldn’t get through when I first heard word. I emailed and asked how this would affect our adoption and he responded by saying “You know that I will let you know, when we know FOR SURE what is going on.” So I call him yesterday and explained what Jocelyn had told me. I asked what my options were. He told me that if we backed out now we would lose everything we had invested. He asked why we would be tempted to do this. I told him because of the delays. So he went into explaining that this would NOT delay our referral (he’s expecting that next month). And that IF it delayed anything, it would delay the time between our first trip out: to go through the court process and our second trip out: when we can legally take her home. I’m confused. Why does the US government explain it differently? And if Radu is right does that mean families will be delayed up to a year or more between when they legally adopt their child in the country and when they can bring their child home? HOW SAD!!! Why would they keep a child who has been legally adopted by a family in the orphanage system for an additional year?!?! Is Radu right? Will we receive our referral next month? Will we still be going to Ethiopia this summer to meet our child and go through court? Will we have to leave our child there after that? How long will we have to wait to bring her home?
Friday, March 11, 2011
Major stuff happening with Ehtiopian Adoptions
Please go to the following website and sign the petition!
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Fasika
This coming week is the week that lent begins. I have never practiced lent, being from an Evangelical Free Church background. However, I have always appreciated this time of cleansing and focusing on God rather than the things of the world in preparation for Easter. I have been studying Ethiopian customs and holidays lately and have been impressed by their version of lent.
Ethiopia is predominately a christian nation. More specifically: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tewahedo faith focuses on the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was going to obey God and sacrifice his own son and the Lord sent a lamb for the sacrifice instead. They believe this was a foreshadowing or prophecy of God sending His son to die for our sins. Tewahedo faith depends on the death and Resurrection of Jesus for salvation, and therefore Fasika (Easter) is the most important holiday of the year for the Ethiopian people.
Typically the period of lent for the Tewahedo Church is 56 days before Easter. Rather than just giving up something for lent, they fast for those 56 days. At first I couldn't believe this, but I discovered that fasting for the Ethiopian people meant that they only eat one meal a day and don't eat any animal products for this entire time (including milk, butter, eggs etc.). OK, so they aren't going without food for 56 days, but that is still a huge sacrifice (I need my 3 meals and my meat!). So Fasika (Easter Sunday) becomes a huge time of feasting and celebration of what Jesus did for us that first Easter weekend.
Ethiopians fast prior to most of their large holidays. 40 days before Christmas, and 56 days before Easter. I know I hardly ever think about fasting, and when I do, it's maybe for a day. Perhaps we have something to learn from our Ethiopian brothers and sisters. Something to think about this Easter or Fasika season!
Ethiopia is predominately a christian nation. More specifically: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tewahedo faith focuses on the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was going to obey God and sacrifice his own son and the Lord sent a lamb for the sacrifice instead. They believe this was a foreshadowing or prophecy of God sending His son to die for our sins. Tewahedo faith depends on the death and Resurrection of Jesus for salvation, and therefore Fasika (Easter) is the most important holiday of the year for the Ethiopian people.
Typically the period of lent for the Tewahedo Church is 56 days before Easter. Rather than just giving up something for lent, they fast for those 56 days. At first I couldn't believe this, but I discovered that fasting for the Ethiopian people meant that they only eat one meal a day and don't eat any animal products for this entire time (including milk, butter, eggs etc.). OK, so they aren't going without food for 56 days, but that is still a huge sacrifice (I need my 3 meals and my meat!). So Fasika (Easter Sunday) becomes a huge time of feasting and celebration of what Jesus did for us that first Easter weekend.
Ethiopians fast prior to most of their large holidays. 40 days before Christmas, and 56 days before Easter. I know I hardly ever think about fasting, and when I do, it's maybe for a day. Perhaps we have something to learn from our Ethiopian brothers and sisters. Something to think about this Easter or Fasika season!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
An invitation to share in the miracle...
One of the biggest challenges in international adoption is the financial piece of the the picture. Many adoptive families share in the sentiment that "our Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills" now he just needs to sell a few cows to make it happen! Aaron and I have been blessed in this process so far, and the Lord has been selling the cows along the way. We are getting very close to the end, and yet have some major expenses ahead. As we've prayed through how to face these next hurdles we have come up with a few answers: #1 we have begun to plan a 5k walk/run in our local area and #2 we have placed a donations button on this blog to allow our friends, who are not in the area, to share in the miracle of our adoption. We are hoping to raise enough to pay for the direct costs remaining to finalize our adoption. Anything that we raise above and beyond our direct costs we will be donating to:
Show Hope
http://www.showhope.org/ This is an organization founded by Stephen Curtis Chapman that provides grants to families who have financial needs in the adoption process. We hope to bless other families seeking to adopt.
and
Adoption Avenues Ethiopian Foster Home http://www.adoptionavenues.org/ This is the adoption agency we are working with. They recently started a foster home in Ethiopia, working to find more Ethiopian orphans permanent homes.
God has placed the desire for adoption on our hearts, and He alone will bring us through this journey. Thank you for considering coming along side of us, and further blessing the adoption process.
Show Hope
http://www.showhope.org/ This is an organization founded by Stephen Curtis Chapman that provides grants to families who have financial needs in the adoption process. We hope to bless other families seeking to adopt.
and
Adoption Avenues Ethiopian Foster Home http://www.adoptionavenues.org/ This is the adoption agency we are working with. They recently started a foster home in Ethiopia, working to find more Ethiopian orphans permanent homes.
God has placed the desire for adoption on our hearts, and He alone will bring us through this journey. Thank you for considering coming along side of us, and further blessing the adoption process.
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