Celebrating Small Stuff

We are still making some small sort of progress while we are waiting.  We received E’s October update on Friday with her weight, height, head and chest circumference and a little bit about her personality.  She is growing and seems very smart!  We also received 3 new photos.  She is so sweet.  We were happy to see in at least 2 of the photos she had ‘girls’ clothing on… not that it matters, but it was nice to see her in pink [now she just needs a bow…ha ha]  She also had her hair in little knots for one of the photos – too cute.  Her eyes are so big, eyelashes so long, and lips so kissable. 

We are currently waiting for one test result, and then the doctor will write up her medical assessment.  After that is written up and sent to us, we can approve her medicals and then move on and wait to be submitted to court.  Our Case Manager said she hopes to have the medical report to us by the end of this week.  Internet connections have been very bad over in that region lately, so that has been some of the delay.  [it’s hard for us to imagine here in the U.S. when we have it on our phones, but it is, nevertheless, the reality over there! ]  Once we approve her medicals, and get submitted to court, we will wait to hear from the courts about our official court date.  I looks like it is taking about 8 weeks after submission to get a court date, and from what I understand, it will take a few weeks to get our paperwork together and ready to submit to court.  [sigh] 

So, judging on the date today, I’m still not sure if we will be able to make a trip this year, but that’s what we are hoping and praying for!  Honestly, I’m just happy that the reagent came in and they were able to get her sample, because we could still be waiting on that!  We are just happing things are moving and we can see some sort of progress. 

So, instead of focusing on things that are not yet accomplished, I’m choosing to celebrate each little milestone, no matter how small, because that's what is going to bring us one step closer to bringing E home.

Please keep your prayers coming.  We can feel them, and we can see their impact! 

Adoption Tax Credit Extended & Improved

Considering adoption?  Now might be the perfect time to start the process!

 We have just found out, that the Adoption Tax Credit (ATC), which was scheduled to expire in 2010, was extended for one-year (through December 31, 2011). This is awesome news to those in the process or considering adoption. This will especially be helpful to those couples (like us) who have to travel to Ethiopia two times (adding $5,000-$7,000 to their expenses).


What is the ATC: The ATC is a critically important element in finding permanent families for children in the U.S. foster care system and the children of our world, who live without permanent parental care. The ATC makes adoption a viable option for many families who may otherwise be unable to afford to adopt.


The highlights of the credit are:
* The maximum credit was increased from $12,150 to $13,170
* The ATC is now retroactive to January 1, 2009. This represents a potential increase of $1,000 for adoptive families.
* The ATC was made refundable. If a family has no tax liability, the IRS will refund the amount due.

 I haven’t read all the small print yet, but this is such good news for those (like us) who will not be able to complete their adoption process in 2010, as previously thought. Goodness, I hope we have our baby home in 2011!

We know this won't cover all of our expenses, but it's a great start.  Plus, no matter what, we would still find a way to get Baby E home, regardless of the tax credit.  So to us, this is just a really nice BONUS!  God is good. 

Oh Pooh!

This just in -- looks like we will be traveling 2 times to Ethiopia -- once for court and once to bring our little girl home.  The Ethiopian Government has just announced that beginning March 1, 2010, adoptive parent(s) must appear in court for the adoption hearing.  The good news is we will get to see her (hopefully) during the first trip; bad news is we won't be able to bring her home.  Maybe in some twisted way, this change in process will make things more efficient.

One positive thing is that she will come to the US on an IR3 Visa, making her an immediate US Citizen. 
On a negative note -- that's travel expenses times 2!

As soon as I hear more from our Case Manager -- I'll give an update.

Truth is... we'd travel around the world twice to bring our daughter home.  We'll just have to work on the logistics of it! 

No News

For those of you who have asked -- No news on our end, but we don’t expect to hear anything until this fall or later. We have no idea where we are on the waiting list, and we are not planning on asking anytime soon.  I'm afraid it will just discourage us.  In January, they were giving out referrals for those who submitted their dossier in June 2009.  Probably not too many referrals have been given out since.  (but notice our snail is still smiling!!)

Things are still slow in Ethiopia with ongoing investigations, referrals, court dates and embassy appointments. (Embassy appointments have now gone from 2 weeks after court to 8 weeks after court). We are hoping that is only a temporary thing. We also hope that somewhere along the line, all of the investigations will somehow improve the process and flow of paperwork in Ethiopia. Please keep families that are SO CLOSE to referral and traveling in your prayers. I’m sure it’s difficult to know your little ones face, but be unable to get to Ethiopia to get them.   Also, please keep all the babies and children who are currently waiting in your prayers. Some of these babies are stuck in orphanages that (due to on-going investigations in their region) are unable to give out referrals or move already-referred children to their interim care homes.

We know that everything has a purpose and reason, so we are trusting that God has His hand on this and will make things happen when its time. In the meantime – we wait and take pleasure in all the blessings we already have -- which are too abundant to count!

Field of Dreams - 1 Month Waiting

Yay! One month waiting. Not too bad. We’ve had our ups and downs of wanting E to come home NOW to periods of time when we realized that we are not yet ready. I suppose that's why it takes 9 months for a baby to come!  It gives the parents time to prepare their home and their heart. We’ve talked many times in church about the timing, process, etc. And lately, all of those sermons are flooding my mind. Yeah, yeah, I know.. the plan, the process, God’s timing, etc. But I love when our Pastor and friends put it so eloquently in fresh new ways… a way we can all relate.

Last year, I remember, was a good analogy of a baseball field and how you can’t get ‘home’ without first touching 1st, 2nd or 3rd base. How many times in life, business and relationships, do we want to get home without running all the bases? How many people do we know in relationships or business that skip bases and get to home by cheating?  Here’s a small snippet of that awesome sermon about running to 1st Base (which is where we are in the game)

Running to first base takes faith. We must believe that God knows best.

Running to first base takes patience. Stay the course. Do things the right way not necessarily right away.

Running to first base takes humility. Every thing in your being will tell you to run the bases your way. In the end we must realize that God knows best. He is running the show. We must let go. If we can die to ourselves we will establish a strong foundation of character. Then we will be ready to continue on this journey with God guiding us every step of the way!

Our good friend, Sam, spoke recently about embracing the process (see his blog here http://mathew514.blogspot.com//). His analogy of the process/event made me think about our upcoming process and the adoption process in general. Everyone on the outside remembers the "Gotcha Day," the photos, etc., but I'm sure most of us will never forget the process that brought us to the event. . . the trials, setbacks, unknown, etc. And, once we are far enough in the process to look back, I'm sure we'll be able to see God's alignment in it. For us, I already see it, but we have a long way to go yet. Sam said,

ask anyone to tell you a bible story… most likely they will remember the EVENT . . . Moses leads the people to the Promised Land! They don't talk about the 80 years those people wandered in the wilderness or the fact that Moses didn't even enter into the Promised Land. That's the process and it's not nearly as sexy . . . Noah builds an ark! Brought the animals in 2 by 2! Everyone knows that, but did you know that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark . . . with his only help being his children . . . do you think he questioned at times if he really heard right from God? Building a massive boat in the middle of dry land? 100 years of a process brings us to the event. . .

His sermon focused on two main points:

Romans 3:28  What we've learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. MSG

Proverbs 16:9   In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. NIV

Sam also said this –( I Love the last part!):

There is a plan in place for your life. You have an idea of what it should be, but in the end it's God's plan not yours. It can be a truly frustrating thing if you cannot get in step with God and His amazing story. A lot of times we just want to know what's next. This leaves us wondering the question all children ask their parents. Why? When my children ask this it just sets me off. What do you mean why, it's because I'm your dad and I said so.    I think God feels this way with us too. In the end, it's because God said so.

Ahhh.. the EVENT. . . can’t wait for that day, but I know that we first have to run all the bases, touch each one without being called out, and then continue walking through the process (with our heads up) until God’s timing for that child, and His timing for our family collide. It might not be when and how we want, but oh what a sweet day that will be!

“This is God's universe and He does things His way. You may have a better way but you don't have a universe.”  ~J. Vernon McGee

Voice of Truth

Recently, CBS aired a story about corruption in Ethiopian Adoptions. A similar story was aired in September on an Australian network. Both stories attacked CWA with false allegations of unethical adoption practices in Ethiopia. CWA has spent many hours investigating the allegations and defending itself against a twisted story full of inaccuracies and allegations.

If you haven’t seen either of the news pieces, I caution you to not even waste your time or let the media poison your mind. If you must watch, please do so but with the knowledge that the story was created to make a good media story. Please look at every position, factor, and motive behind the story before forming an opinion.

I must applaud CWA though, for their 1 hour + rebuttal interview in which they put to rest the allegations made by the Australian journalist. It’s even quite entertaining. If you saw both news pieces, I encourage you to watch the 8 part interview with CWA’s attorney on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristianWorldAdopt
It’s a long watch, but so worth it.

They have also made two statements, which can be found here:
http://www.cwa.org/ethiopia-statement.htm
http://www.cwa.org/cbsnews-response.htm

When you defend the defenseless, there is always going to be those who question and oppose that, so that’s not a surprise. What is surprising is that news media can report on things without being accountable for their accusations. Adoptions are risky. In order to defend the defenseless, there is always risk involved. As our Pastor spoke about several weeks ago, "We are the servants who are given a life. If we take our lives and take risk to build God’s kingdom, we are rewarded in heaven. If we take our lives and play it safe, it’s actually a riskier way to live. . ."  His sermon was based on Psalms 82:3-4 You're here to defend the defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break; your job is to stand up for the powerless, and prosecute all those who exploit them." MSG   Brad and I were on-stage guests that week and spoke about our upcoming adoption and what it means to us to defend the defenseless. We also talked about the risks involved in an adoption. We know that the risks are there, but we are trying not to dwell on them. We must first embrace the process as we walk thu one step at a time. (I’ll post later about our good friend, Sam, and his sermon about “Embracing the Process.”)

I could go into lots of details about the claims, but bottom line – CWA has done an excellent, excellent job of preparing us for many of the risks involved in the process and once the child comes home. They have been very transparent.  They also require 10 hours of training, including on-line courses, lots of reading, dvds with testimonies of adoptive parents that have brought children home, entire segments on special medical needs of Ethiopian children, etc.

I can understand that occasionally, things may go wrong, things that parents may not have prepared their hearts for. . . things that may seem unfair. That happens in every family whether biological or adopted.  It stinks!! But, I think many times people look for someone to blame. But that doesn't necessarily justify attacking CWA.

One of the biggest things in the media is that people want a ‘guarantee’ that a child will be healthy or a guarantee that there will be no problems, or a guarantee that life will be peachy . . . I’m sorry.. children, families, and life in general doesn’t come with a guarantee. We are all clay in God’s hands to mold and sculpt to glorify Him.   

Unfortunately, the unjustified accusations will ultimately hurt and hinder international adoptions. At the end of the day that directly affects children who are in need of a forever family and families that are waiting in the process.  Please pray for the children and families that are waiting, and for the management and staff at CWA that they can continue to combat the allegations as they continue doing God's work in defending the defenseless. 

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28