What a wild few weeks we have had in the Stew House. Between sickness and lots of activity, I have not even remotely thought about blogging!

Things are moving very slowly on the adoption front. The only reason I can say as to why is that our son is not ready for us YET. We have had the opportunity to accept referrals for infants three times now and have passed on these precious infants three times. While some may think that is foolish and not understand why, I would put forth that Jason and I have a heart for a child that is a little older.  Our agency director said to me this week, affirming our decision to be patient, that it is easy to find families who are willing to adopt infants…it is a little harder to find families willing to adopt toddler boys. So if our waiting now means that a little 2 or 3 year old does not have to wait any longer than necessary later, then that it what we are prepared to do….WAIT.

Waiting is never fun. We quickly can become frustrated or abandon what we are waiting for and pursue that which is convenient.  In adoption, waiting is part of the journey. There is no way around it. We want to get to the end of the journey and the prize that is there….our children home.  Yet, I fully believe and trust that in the waiting is when we have a choice to make. Do we wait with anticipation, hope and patience, or do we wait with emotion, fear and anxiety?  Do we choose to rejoice in the now of our life or think that by laboring over our wait, we somehow make it go any faster?

It comes down to TRUST.

Am I trusting God’s sovreign plan for my family? Or, am I putting trust in my own efforts?

I know that maturity and character are revealed in struggle and in difficult times. I have shown myself to be one big ol baby in times past.

But, not this time.

I am choosing to find the joy in the wait, anticipation for our son and seek daily to honor Jesus.  By spending time focusing on Christ, my sweet family of five, and preparing our hearts and our home for our boy….I am hoping I am faithful to Jesus in the wait.

I pray constantly for our boy. Is he safe? Is he hungry? Is he loved? I have moments of tears thinking about him….

But, I know that when I see my boy’s face, hear his NAME and hold him…..the waiting seems but a moment and I will realize THIS  PRECIOUS ONE was worth it and he is ours.  I remember that feeling when we had Parker after trying for so long to have a child, for our unexpected, but always planned, Emery and for Bradley….our boy.

I can’t DO anything about those things except TRUST in my FATHER to be his FATHER, and claim the promise that HE will be with our son, because in this season of waiting…..I can’t. The arms of Christ stretch so much farther than mine and I am so thankful that I serve a Savior who will be comfort and love to our boy. What joy I have in knowing that and the comfort it brings my soul.

Here are some verses I am learning while I wait….

• Romans 8:25 ESV
  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

• Psalm 31:24 ESV
  Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

• Psalm 130:5 ESV
  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

• Proverbs 13:19 ESV

  A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul

How are you marking your time in a season of waiting?

We’ve been asked “Why Ethiopia?”  Here are just a few reasons why….

When Jason and I made the leap to adopt, we decided to not have a separate blog about our adoption journey. NOT that I have anything against blogs that are about a family’s adoption journey, we just wanted to write about what is going on in our family like we have for the last four years! Since we already have a blog, we decided to highlight our adoption in between posts about Christmas and Basketball season!

We began the process at the beginning of November. The first thing you have to do is have your homestudy done, which is what I do for a part time job, so this was not a hard process for us, just a list we needed to work! Our agency was Adoption Assistance, Inc. A homestudy highlights your family, your background, your home, your finances, your community, any criminal background or history and your preparation for adopting a child. If you are adopting internationally, it also is what USCIS looks at to determine if you are meet the guidelines to adopt and bring an orphan into the United States. They will only approve the parameters of gender, age and how many children based on what you have been approved for in your homestudy. It also is country specific and highlights what a specific country may have as requirements, such as income or how many years a couple has been married. Basically, a social worker conducts four interviews and one home visit to determine if your family is a good candidate to adopt.

You also have to choose an agency. There are many factors that go into choosing an agency, such as their wait time, their track record, their integrity, their cost….but bottom line, it comes down to who you feel comfortable with walking the journey towards your child. For us, we chose, Celebrate Children International.  We chose them for several reasons. One, was because people I trust, who work in adoptions, and who have successfully brought 10 children home, have nothing but GREAT things to say. Second, I spoke with the director and heard her heart and felt comfortable with her. Third, they were much faster for the age and gender we were looking at compared to other agencies I looked at. This is important to us because honestly, who wants to wait, and international adoption can change in a minute and there is no guarantee that Ethiopia will be open in 2 months or 6 months or  a year, so the quicker we get him home…..the better. Other great agencies for Ethiopia, that I have worked with over the past two years and do a phenomenal job are Gladney, WACAP and All God’s Children. (It also depends on the country you are adopting from as to which agency would be the best…if you have questions, please email me and ask! I would love to give you some suggestions!)

We completed our homestudy and had everything but one form ready before Jason left for China in December, but with the holidays, Jason being gone and the amount of work I was juggling, we finally had our dossier ready to go last Friday. Our dossier is the official documents that are specific to each country that the government officials will look at to determine if you meet their requirements to adopt. They must be notarized, County Certified,  State Authenticated and then sent to a courier in Washington D.C. to be taken to the State Department to be authenticated and then, in our case, the Ethiopian Embassy to be Authenticated. Then, it is overnighted to your agency and will be sent to Ethiopia for translation. Our dossier landed at CCI on Friday, January 14.

After your homestudy is done, you also apply for an I-600A with USCIS, which is a  Application for Advance Processing for Orphan Petition. Basically, you apply, send in a big fat check, and wait to be given an appointment for FBI fingerprinting. They also review your homestudy and grant or deny your request to bring an orphan into the United States.  We applied on December 10 and we had our fingerprinting done last Friday as well, on January 7 and are now awaiting our I-171H, which is the Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition.  It is valid for 18 months and you must have it to bring your child home.

So for us the next step is to wait.  It is out of our hands at this point. We wait for our I-171H, but more importantly, we wait for our REFERRAL. A referral is basically….your child. The director of our agency has been in Ethiopia, and the Assistant Director thinks we are second on the list for a boy and first for a boy between the ages of 2 and 4. Our desire is for a boy around 2.5 to 3.  She informed me to stay close to my email….he could come any day!!!!

We are super hopeful that we will have our referral by the end of January, but if not, that is fine because really, it has been one week…..I know parents who wait years for a referral, so I have no right to complain that we are already at the top of the list!

For now, we have paid about $6500 towards our adoption. We have had one yard sale to raise money and that was very helpful. We have applied to be apart of a program called Both Hands through Lifesong For Orphans. It is a wonderful program where you gather friends and family to work on a widow’s home for a day and they send out letters asking for support of their time and any money raised goes toward our adoption. It is truly caring for the widow and the orphan! Hopefully, we will be approved for this amazing program soon. If you would like to volunteer, we would love to have you!

I can’t wait to see my boy’s face and know his name. We pray for him daily as a family that he is safe, loved and healthy. Our kids are so ready to see his sweet face. Parker said to me yesterday, “Mom, I am just ready to see him and have that face up our fridge.” She has seen many children waiting to come home on our fridge and she is ready for her brother’s face to included.

If you have any questions about adoption, please feel free to ask us. We are not experts, but we will gladly share our journey and pray for you as you determine your role in caring for orphans.

Your  next update will hopefully include the words….we got a referral!!

A couple of months ago, I found a list online of sites that support adoption. Many are amazing jewelry sites and I immediately added a couple to my Amazon Wish List for Christmas! One site was Hip Mom Jewelry.

I loved this necklace and now am the proud owner….

I noticed that they had an adoption fundraising program for families and I immediately applied… Well, we have been chosen as a January family! I am so thankful and excited.  The details are that any item purchased from their adoption page, benefits our son! We will receive 30% of all items purchased in the month of January if you use our family code, which is 2011JANSte Think Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Mother’s Day….what woman doesn’t like jewelry!! Thanks in advance for walking with us in the journey to bring our boy home! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you!

This is a must watch video….

What is your role in the orphan crisis? Because we all have one……

Today, I am thankful to welcome two sweet children home from Ethiopia.

Two families that we know are bringing their children home. In one way thier journey is complete, but in fact, it is only just beginning.

We are busy with paperwork and in the beginning stages of our adoption, but I can’t wait for the day when we round the corner and meet our guy….

And, when he gets to meet all of you….

As you are shopping for Christmas, please consider some of these amazing sites, which are supporting orphan care or adoptions!

http://www.vitafamiliae.com/?page_id=3446

Jason answered some questions on his blog about our adoption. I think he did a perfect job capturing what God has been stirring in our hearts for the last few months (and longer!).

Go check it out….here.