As my last post mentioned, the adoption process for Ethiopia will be changing as of September 1st. I think it's safe to say there is not a family in the waiting stage that is thrilled about this change. When talking ethics (which I know and believe should be most important), this is a good change. However, many don't agree with the way it's being done and the longer time frame children will be STUCK in orphanages.
With this change brought a lot of emotions from hundreds of families. Many families I know decided to consider one of the waiting children who are on our agency's list....and everyone started counting months to figure out if they'd be caught in the new procedures. I'll admit, we've been praying over the waiting child list for two years and there were a couple of sibling groups we have been heavily discussing. This news had us thinking we should jump quickly so we could get the process going before we'd fall under the new process.
All week I've been praying that we do not get caught up in the emotions of the crazy adoption road, and that we'd truly give this over the Lord and wait for His guidance.
This weekend we finally had all our paperwork in order to get our new I-171H (approval from the US saying we are approved to bring home up to 2 children ages 0-11). The sibling sets we had been praying about fell outside of this approval and therefore we considered not sending the paperwork...why not call our social worker, ask if they'd approve us for an even broader age range, THEN send in for our I-171H. Instead of sending in the paperwork on Saturday, I held on to it until Monday afternoon.
God clearly told me to just send in the paperwork and to trust that He had this all under control.
And so I put the large envelope into the mail, "Lord, you called us down this path. It has been a road of faith and perseverance, and I know there are trials ahead. I know that you've got our backs and you've got us covered. Whether that means we get a referral this week or 2 months from now....I give it all over to you..."
And today I got complete confirmation that even though this journey is HARD and TOUGH and TRYING....when we give it all over to Him, it all falls into place the way He wants it to....
Today I was in my new classroom trying to figure out how I'll arrange the room. I had all four kids with me, all a little hungry, and all most definitely tired. We had been working for almost four hours and I was starting to get a tad bit cranky....
My phone rang....
Virginia area code....
I knew instantly....
After what seemed like 5 minutes introducing herself to me (our family coordinator is out of town), she finally told me she was calling to ask if we would accept a referral of 2 children if she called me back today or tomorrow....
UMMMMM....YES!!!!!!!!!!!
She had to call to confirm some tiny little logistics....and now we are waiting for our phone to ring again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (so if you call me in the mean time, I just may reach through the phone and shake you silly)
Next post-----REFERRAL (from Ethiopia---a process we started in April of 2011)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With this change brought a lot of emotions from hundreds of families. Many families I know decided to consider one of the waiting children who are on our agency's list....and everyone started counting months to figure out if they'd be caught in the new procedures. I'll admit, we've been praying over the waiting child list for two years and there were a couple of sibling groups we have been heavily discussing. This news had us thinking we should jump quickly so we could get the process going before we'd fall under the new process.
All week I've been praying that we do not get caught up in the emotions of the crazy adoption road, and that we'd truly give this over the Lord and wait for His guidance.
This weekend we finally had all our paperwork in order to get our new I-171H (approval from the US saying we are approved to bring home up to 2 children ages 0-11). The sibling sets we had been praying about fell outside of this approval and therefore we considered not sending the paperwork...why not call our social worker, ask if they'd approve us for an even broader age range, THEN send in for our I-171H. Instead of sending in the paperwork on Saturday, I held on to it until Monday afternoon.
God clearly told me to just send in the paperwork and to trust that He had this all under control.
And so I put the large envelope into the mail, "Lord, you called us down this path. It has been a road of faith and perseverance, and I know there are trials ahead. I know that you've got our backs and you've got us covered. Whether that means we get a referral this week or 2 months from now....I give it all over to you..."
And today I got complete confirmation that even though this journey is HARD and TOUGH and TRYING....when we give it all over to Him, it all falls into place the way He wants it to....
Today I was in my new classroom trying to figure out how I'll arrange the room. I had all four kids with me, all a little hungry, and all most definitely tired. We had been working for almost four hours and I was starting to get a tad bit cranky....
My phone rang....
Virginia area code....
I knew instantly....
After what seemed like 5 minutes introducing herself to me (our family coordinator is out of town), she finally told me she was calling to ask if we would accept a referral of 2 children if she called me back today or tomorrow....
UMMMMM....YES!!!!!!!!!!!
She had to call to confirm some tiny little logistics....and now we are waiting for our phone to ring again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (so if you call me in the mean time, I just may reach through the phone and shake you silly)
Next post-----REFERRAL (from Ethiopia---a process we started in April of 2011)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with ALL YOUR HEART and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight!
Seriously on pins and needles! So exciting!
ReplyDeleteSo excited!
ReplyDeleteVery Exciting!!! Can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDelete