One year in process!

This week we passed our ONE YEAR anniversary of beginning the adoption process. I’m not sure how I feel about that, which is probably why this is going to be a babbling post, but this is why we started our blog in the first place… to document our journey and thoughts on Bringing E home.


Let’s do a quick recap of One year in process….

• 10 months waiting for a referral . . .

• But the last 4 of them being “ON HOLD STATUS” . . .

• Due to Biological pregnancy (that was previously considered not-medically possible). . . but

• Baby Faith due in February 2011. . .

• CWA placed us on “Hold Status” until Baby Faith is 6 months old. . .

• Will become on “Active status” again in August of 2011 and will get a referral soon thereafter!

Changes/issues that have arisen in the past 12 months:

• CWA unjustifiably investigated for unethical adoption practices in Ethiopia.
• Thought: what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger! CWA has definitely come out on top.
• Ethiopia changes procedure requiring adoptive parents to travel to Ethiopia 2 times – once for the court hearing and then again for the embassy appointment. (thus doubling travelling fees). 
• Thought – get to meet and bond with Baby E earlier, and soak in the culture of her birth country … not to mention get a dry run of travelling once without baby.. so we will be experts for trip #2! 
• Time frame between court hearing and embassy appointment creeps into 4 – 6 months due to ongoing investigations and embassy-required paperwork, etc.
• Thought: New time frame has just changed to 6-8 weeks or sooner! Also, adoptive parents and any bio parents are now appearing in court on the same day! 
• Adoption Tax Credit is extended to 2011! 
• Thought: hope we get to bring E home by 2011! 
• Surprise Pregnancy with some slight complications!
• God is good and has blessed Baby E with a sister to grow up with!
• CWA is good in that we were able to go on “Hold Status”… we will go back onto the Active List after our Bio baby is 6 months old.. and then will be one of the first ones up for referral (since our dossier will be the oldest!) 
• Keep in mind – some adoption agencies contracts state that if you become pregnant (even if it’s a miracle from God) during the adoption phase or referral phase, your contract is null and void and you lose everything!

And, even will all of this, and everything that has transpired in the past 12 months, we are more thrilled and more excited to bring Baby E home. We are not discouraged, we are not giving up, and we will continue to wait upon the Lord! We continue to get questions from people who think just because we are pregnant we will put this “whole adoption thing to rest…” Ha ha ha… they don’t know us very well… do they?

Did I think one year ago that this is where we would be?? Heck No! But, it’s not my plan, and I’m kinda diggin God’s plan right now. He knows what’s best for us. Things are going to be crazy around here for a while, but what a super-double blessing He has lined up for our family.

Here are some quotes from my posts throughout the last year (before we knew that our path would be changing so dramatically)… funny to read them and see how everything has come full circle, and lined up so beautifully, for purpose and for reason. We can see God’s hand in everything and every twist and turn our path has taken over the last year. But, we wouldn’t have it any other way!

“. . . but I guess it goes back to the whole trust and peace aspect of trusting God in this journey. He is the one who first placed this on our hearts, so He is the one who will help us grow and learn patience and peace through all of this. I must admit, I wince and pout (if truth be known) every time I see a change coming that's going to mess with MY plan, but guess what... it's not MY plan :) . . .”

“. . .I think in a world of instant gratification, it's easy to lose sight of the grand plan of things and get caught up in one little detail or set back. But we have to remember, all those little things and set backs were already figured into the grand scheme of things, unbeknownst to us. These little things are not changing our path or His plan for us or for our family-- He already figured them into the 'package deal.' . . .”

“. . . It's all apart of the plan -- the growing, the stretching, the maturing of our faith. The trusting that things will work out -- perhaps not as we have planned in our human minds -- but exactly how He has planned for it to happen . . .”