Movin on up

Two very exciting things on the Adoption, finally I have something to update!

1. Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia!
2. We are #2 on the list and the #1 family has been presented with a referral, if they accept we will be the "new #1"!!

With the changes in the process in Ethiopia, Simon and I thought it would be at least until January before we received a referral. It looks like we were wrong! We have not really been doing any planning because we thought we had 6 months or more to wait. Well, after today we have put the planning back in gear. We also need to be ready to right a large check for the country fee, we need your prayers for that!

Adoption Expo

Our church held its annual Adoption Expo this weekend. We had a great time talking with all of the families interested in Adoption. God is moving in a lot of ways to help the orphans of the world. Several of the families in our Forever Families ministry have received children. Others are jumping through the hoops as quickly as possible. Pastor Alan had a very moving message this weekend, that stirred a lot of people to stop with the "yeah, buts" and open their hearts to the possibility of adoption. We had the opportunity to pass out lots of cards for the Red Letters Campaign and hopefully increase God's work through that channel.

We found out this week that some of our new friends through church (and 4-H) have decided to adopt from Ethiopia as well! Praise God as they are interested in a sibling group!

We do not have any update on our adoption...entering week 3 of waiting...

Keeping It In Perspective

Last weekend our wonderful Pastor Alan gave one of those sermons you think about all week. You can see it here if you would like to watch the whole thing for yourself, but I wanted all of us to think of something he said. He was referring to all of the emails he has received asking him to pray for our country in the midst of this "financial crisis". He said he never gets emails asking for prayer vigils for the 2.9 million people who died of AIDS in Africa in 2006, or the 15 million orphans in Africa who do not have either parent to care for them. Wow...that really hit home. Now, understand that I have NOT been worried about this crisis. I believe these things happen, and it is just a matter for riding out the storm, but God is trying to tell us something. This passage may be telling us what is happening:

Jonah 4:10: But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine,
though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died
overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I
not be concerned about that great city?"

Could our financial success be the same as Jonah's "vine"? Are we more worried
about our selves than showing mercy to other countries, such as Africa and the
AIDS crisis? Are we sitting back like Jonah and waiting for God to punish them? Probably not consciously, but do we really care? AIDS/HIV seems to have just disappeared in the US. You don't hear anything about it in the media anymore, the antiviral drugs have made it a "condition" rather than a death sentence. This is NOT the case the Africa. The drug therapy is very expensive and nearly impossible to get to most people in Africa. As Christians we all live by the saying, "What would Jesus do?". Think about that, he would do something for these people, ask yourself, what are you doing for them?

Another reality check Paston Alan gave us was this:

If you have these four things, you are more wealthy than 75% of the
people on this planet.

1. A roof over your head
2. A bed to sleep in
3. Food in your fridge
4. Clothes in a closet

Something to ponder as we worry about our portfolio or the outcome of the presidential election...

We're on the list!!!

As of yesterday, October 3rd, we are officially on the waiting list. We are so excited! We are #5 for a boy and #10 for a girl. Our agency has not had very many referrals the last couple of months, but they are anticipaing more really really soon.

We are getting ready for our Adoption Expo at our church, and I am trying to catch up around here after the crazy 6 weeks I have just had at work. I should have kept track of my hours...I am sure it was 50 + every week. Our budget is going to the City Council for approval on Tuesday, that will signify a slow down for me for a month or so. It has been really hard, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are going to start the process of moving our office to the workout room and moving Bella into the office. She says she is ready to move into the basement, but we are going to take it slow. We really don't need her room until the baby comes home, but we have painting and a lot of work to do to get it ready. That should keep us busy while we are officially "waiting".

Our Sweet Babies

Nicky refused to wear his "footy" pajamas until tonight. His big sister got him to put them on...both mommy & daddy tried several nights without any luck. These two have such a great relationship!!

Adoption Update

I haven't posted for awhile, mostly because there has not been much happening on the adoption front. Well, we do have some news. We sent our dossier off to our agency last week, upon review, it looks like we were missing one thing...a copy of Simon's passport. Darn it...I tried so hard to get everything in the first try, but I guess it was perfect otherwise. I sent off the copy on Thursday to the State for certification and hopefully they will get it to the agency early next week. We can't go on the list until then. I was kind of disappointed, but it is not a big deal considering we will be #3 on the list for a boy and #6 on the list for a girl. Our agency has not had any referrals lately, so things are not moving right now. We don't think a few days will make that big of a difference, so we are still being patient. We also have to apply with Homeland Security to bring the baby into the Country (I 600A). We did that last week and received the letter stating we can go have our finger prints done for the background check. We will have to do that in Denver at their offices so we will do it when we are down there on the 11th for our adoption training. This does not need to be done to get on the referral list, but needs to be completed by the time we travel.

On another adoption note, our Church is hosting an Adoption Expo the weekend of October 18th & 19th. Simon and I are having an Ethiopian Adoption booth along with a book table. We have contacted Red Letters and Russell Weir has graciously offered to send us some cards along with other materials they use to hand out. Thank you Russell, if you are out there!!! Also, if any of you have traveled and have pictures of the orphanages we can use, please email them to me at jess_adams24@hotmail.com. We really feel God is leading us to use this opportunity to get the word out about the need for orphan relief in Africa. If you are interested in ways you can help, read this post from a few weeks ago. Well, that is all for now, God willing, we will post next week that we are officially "waiting".

On it's way back

I just checked the Fed Ex tracker and it looks like our dossier is on its way back from the Secretary of State. Hopefully it will get here tomorrow and I will get it off to our agency. Could Monday be the day we are offically "waiting"??