Thursday, June 28, 2012

Day ONE Ethiopia


Isaiah 61:3
    and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.


painted on the wall outside guest house
We arrived in Addis Ababa Ethiopia around 8 am (Saturday).  The guest house where we are staying is only 5 or so minutes from the airport.  We arrived and spent a couple of hours here with 2 other families (who are leaving w/their children tonight) and our adoption coordinator who is here visiting.

Our coordinator then took us to the “transition home” where “Y” is.  This is not the orphanage.  This is where children who have been matched with families go and wait for their court date and for their families to come get them.  When we arrived, we drove through the gate (everywhere here has tall walls surrounding the bldg. and one gate to enter through), “Y” was playing in the front yard.  All the children rushed up to us including him, and he was grinning from ear to ear. 

We were instructed to bring a backpack of goodies for him (and brought a few things for the other children).  All of the children who have families in the transition home have backpacks and are very proud of their contents!  “Y” gave us a slight hug and then wanted his backpack IMMEDIATELY! Lol He also opened it IMMEDIATELY!  And then, we don’t think he ever took his backpack off.  He was very proud of it.

his backpack
Everything was good but also a little awkward…. other kids were wanting our attention, we knew his birthmother was somewhere at the house waiting on us, he was tossing things onto the ground from out of his backpack, etc…. You can get the picture.  Luckily,  I’ve heard enough “first meeting adoption stories” to know that rarely does anyone have that precious moment where eyes lock, tears of happiness are shed and POOF you are a family.

We sat with “Y” just a little while outside with other kids in our laps and on our hips.  Then, we made the move to go inside to meet his mother.  She was a beautiful 19 year old Muslim girl. She went on to tell us a very moving story about “Y”.  She was pregnant with him at 13 years old and tried to have an abortion because the father did not want a child.  He was young also.  However, the abortion “did not take” in her words.  It sounded as if she had tried several times.  For this reason his birth name means miracle work of God.  WOW.  We have all of this on video.  Priceless.  She kissed him several times and he was also affectionate towards her.  Together, we looked at photo’s of our family.  His mother was very happy to know that we had other children.  I gave her a photo album as a keepsake and she was very thankful.

We took some “family” photo’s including his mother.  I want him to have these and hope that he has happy memories of his time w/his mom.  In adoption, the “B” word – meaning birthmother can be a VERY scary thing…..even when adopting internationally.  On the way to Ethiopia part of me was pretty bummed that this was the route God had laid out for us.  It’s easy to want to just grab your child and get the heck out of dodge, so to speak!!  But the fact is – “Y” had a life before us.  To totally ignore all of that, like life didn’t happen until he met us, would be ridiculous.

together at last
It makes me think about our relationship with Christ.  For believers, we had life before we met Christ.  Part of that life could have been very good and part of that life could have been very, very dark.  Regardless – it’s what do we do with all that stuff (good or bad) once we claim Him as Lord.  Do we act like life never happened?  Or – do we use it for His purpose?

I DO NOT intend to draw the parallel that Russ and I are like Christ in anyway and have “saved” this little boy.  Not at all!!  I’m just saying how we have a choice.  First, as his mother, I have to embrace the realities of what “Y” has faced. His birthmother was 13 when he was born. She tried to abort him. Life was too difficult so she gave him up.  WOW – harsh, huh?  However, with discretion, I can share stories of “Y’s” past, show him pictures, pray for his mother and that information can be used to help him fulfill his ultimate purpose for the kingdom. 

Just like, with discretion, you and I can share personal stories, experiences, etc… from our past and use them to help others grow in Christ and allow us to fulfill our God given purpose. 

It’s tempting to shut down and totally close the door on a chapter of your life, especially when it’s been hard.  I encourage you to make the choice to embrace the good, bad and the ugly.  He will bestow a crown of beauty instead of ashes.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

AMAZING

We are going to court 
JUNE 25th, 2012 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Submitting 4 Court


“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” Isaiah 58:9


Don’t even get me started on this entire passage or I’ll be typing for days!  For right now – I need to focus on “Here am I”.

The last 24 hours have been yet another whirlwind.  I knew that our agency was REALLY pushing for us to make it to court before the rainy season, but yesterday morning I was told  - “We want to submit your case for court Monday.”

WHAT?
I’ve not received my completed homestudy! Here am I
I’ve not been able to apply for a change of country on our orphan petition form BECAUSE I don’t have a completed homestudy! Here am I
I’ve not been to the county clerks office to get our county seal on the documents because I don’t have a completed homestudy! Here am I
I’ve not been to the state office to get our state seal on the documents because I don’t have a completed homestudy! Here am I
I’ve not called Assisted Stork to courier our documents to Washington because I don’t have a completed homestudy! Here am I

At 12:30 PM the mail comes. IT’S OUR COMPLETED HOMESTUDY! Here am I

 My chest tightens and I really start to freak out about all that I have to do. You can ask Russ…. Or my kids.  Total panic mode.  My kitchen table is a mess with documents immediately.  I’m making copies, phones calls, etc… Here am I

At 3:00 PM I leave to go get our documents authenticated and traffic is horrible!  At 4:10 PM I’m almost to the Davidson Country Clerk’s office but call to see when they close (which is 4:30).  During that phone call I feel a nudge to look at my paperwork again.  I have two pages that need to be sealed by the county clerk (they verify the notary). One document was signed with a Robertson County notary stamp and the other with a Wilson Country notary stamp. Ugh – you have got to be kidding me!! The Davidson County office can’t verify a notary in Robertson or Wilson County.  FRUSTRATION! Here am I

4:20 PM I’m headed back home. I've not even had time to eat all day! I pull over for a snack and  text a friend who is a notary in the correct county.  She agrees to help ASAP. Here am I 

7:45 PM The last of the copies are ready from Staples.  I have everything in order to put in the mail for Saturday. Here am I
As I’m putting my documents for the orphan petition form in the envelope I notice something. Here am I
There is an error on our homestudy regarding our age range.  The range for the child(ren) we hope to adopt is 0 – 6 years old.  “Y” could even be 7 years old – we aren’t sure.  It can’t say 0 – 6!  We can’t adopt him if it says 0 -6! This should be 0 – 8 years old! Disappointed. Angry. Here am I

8:30 PM Connected with the adoption agency.  They are going to move forward and submit to court with current papers!  HOWEVER – I have to get all this corrected ASAP.  Absolute miracle. Here am I

It’s very possible that we will still not make court before they close in August.  As a matter of fact – logically, it’s impossible.  And if that happens, I’ll need to look back and see all the “Here am I’s” over this 1 ½ years journey to maintain sanity.  He will not leave us.  He will not forsake us.  He is in control.