Well, we've been on the waitlist for the adoption just about one month. We've moved up a bit in the young sibling line and the toddler girl line. Otherwise, pretty much the same place we were when we started.
We got big news regarding Isabelle (our former foster daughter) last week. Her mom relinquished her rights in order to enter into an open adoption agreement with her current foster mom who is going to adopt all three kids. I can't say I'm "happy" about it. I'm for birth families being together whenever possible, and it makes me sad that the kids will be living lives separate from their birth mom. However, the adoptive mom is wonderful, birth mom will still be involved on some level, and the kids are well-loved by so many people. And adoptive mom has said that we will always have a place in Isabelle's life, so the prospect of watching our very first foster child grow up for the next 15 years (hopefully more!) is amazing. We've been so blessed by our foster care experience! We haven't had another placement yet, but we've been doing respite for other families. We'll have our first teenager this weeked (eek!) and another toddler for a week at the end of the month.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Update
Wow, I have really neglected this blog. I guess I thought that since not much was happening on the adoption front that I didn't have much to post. But looking at the last couple posts, I realize that I left a lot of things hanging out there! So here's a rundown of the happenings here.
Regarding foster care: Our foster daughter is no longer with us. Last May she was moved to a home where she could be with her siblings. And it appears that the current foster mom will be adopting the kids in an open adoption agreement with the birthmom. We've gotten to see her several times since the move and she is doing great! We haven't had another placement since then, but we do respite for another little boy about once a month. Eli just loves having sleepovers with his foster sibs.
Regarding adoption: We are officially on the wait list! It took us forever to complete our dossier! Mainly because we were waiting on our tax refund to pay for it, and our refund was held hostage by the IRS until about October while we were being audited. But alas, we did get the refund and our dossier was sent to Ethiopia on 1/27/12. It will probably be quite a while as we wait for our referral. The current wait for a boy is 10-16 months and 11-18 for a girl. Our request was for one child 0-3 years or two kids 0-4. So, if you're interested, we are #76 in line for a baby boy, #75 for a baby girl, #40 for young siblings, #25 for a toddler boy, and #34 for a toddler girl (these are estimates, actually). So if each were referred equally, it looks like the best bet is we'll get a toddler boy. But you just never know!
Regarding church: So previously I mentioned that two of our pastors left to pursue other ministries. We had a couple months of transition and now Matthew is the preaching pastor and Mike (our former children's pastor) is the associate pastor (but still in charge of kids because he rocks at it). We were pleasantly suprised to lose very few members with the turn-over, and the church has been very resilient for the little church plant that it is. Our outside support keeps shrinking (because we don't need it so much) and we're very near to be being self sufficient. Praise God!
Regarding Eli: Elijah has been attending the school district's developmental pre-school program since he turned 3 almost a year ago. He gets to ride the bus and all! He loves it. And his teacher and speech teacher just gush that he is doing so good. We're hopeful that after a couple years of pre-school he will be able to jump right into Kindergarten without needing an IEP anymore.
I think that'll cover it!
Regarding foster care: Our foster daughter is no longer with us. Last May she was moved to a home where she could be with her siblings. And it appears that the current foster mom will be adopting the kids in an open adoption agreement with the birthmom. We've gotten to see her several times since the move and she is doing great! We haven't had another placement since then, but we do respite for another little boy about once a month. Eli just loves having sleepovers with his foster sibs.
Regarding adoption: We are officially on the wait list! It took us forever to complete our dossier! Mainly because we were waiting on our tax refund to pay for it, and our refund was held hostage by the IRS until about October while we were being audited. But alas, we did get the refund and our dossier was sent to Ethiopia on 1/27/12. It will probably be quite a while as we wait for our referral. The current wait for a boy is 10-16 months and 11-18 for a girl. Our request was for one child 0-3 years or two kids 0-4. So, if you're interested, we are #76 in line for a baby boy, #75 for a baby girl, #40 for young siblings, #25 for a toddler boy, and #34 for a toddler girl (these are estimates, actually). So if each were referred equally, it looks like the best bet is we'll get a toddler boy. But you just never know!
Regarding church: So previously I mentioned that two of our pastors left to pursue other ministries. We had a couple months of transition and now Matthew is the preaching pastor and Mike (our former children's pastor) is the associate pastor (but still in charge of kids because he rocks at it). We were pleasantly suprised to lose very few members with the turn-over, and the church has been very resilient for the little church plant that it is. Our outside support keeps shrinking (because we don't need it so much) and we're very near to be being self sufficient. Praise God!
Regarding Eli: Elijah has been attending the school district's developmental pre-school program since he turned 3 almost a year ago. He gets to ride the bus and all! He loves it. And his teacher and speech teacher just gush that he is doing so good. We're hopeful that after a couple years of pre-school he will be able to jump right into Kindergarten without needing an IEP anymore.
I think that'll cover it!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Default to Yes
Many of you reading this are not aware of how or why our second adoption started. So let me tell the story for those of you interested.
AWAA has a “waiting child” list for Ethiopia. This is a list of orphaned children who need to be adopted and are waiting for homes because they generally have some sort of special need (medical concerns, older in age, sibling groups, etc.) We look at this list from time to time and pray for the children to find families and homes.
One day I was looking at the list and came upon a sibling group of two children, one of which was HIV+. For some reason, I felt immediately compelled to go upstairs to Matthew, even though it was very late at night, and ask what he thought of adopting them. We prayed, and decided to pursue it.
Now, just to clarify, we will not be adopting these children. Before we could even get far enough into the process, the children were pursued by another family- praise God. But I bring it up to share our hearts and what God has taught us.
You see, when we prayed, we both said that we felt like God was NOT saying “these are YOUR kids, pursue them headlong!” But rather, He was saying “default to yes.” He has commanded us to care for orphans and widows. And when the opportunity to do so presents itself, He wants us to default to doing so. So rather than praying “should we care for this orphan?” we pray “is there a reason NOT to care for this orphan?”
I do believe that every big decision should be bathed in prayer, wise counsel, and consideration. And I know that not everyone is called to adopt, or foster. Just the same, not everyone is called to go overseas for missions. But we are all called to participate. So for us, we will default to yes.
AWAA has a “waiting child” list for Ethiopia. This is a list of orphaned children who need to be adopted and are waiting for homes because they generally have some sort of special need (medical concerns, older in age, sibling groups, etc.) We look at this list from time to time and pray for the children to find families and homes.
One day I was looking at the list and came upon a sibling group of two children, one of which was HIV+. For some reason, I felt immediately compelled to go upstairs to Matthew, even though it was very late at night, and ask what he thought of adopting them. We prayed, and decided to pursue it.
Now, just to clarify, we will not be adopting these children. Before we could even get far enough into the process, the children were pursued by another family- praise God. But I bring it up to share our hearts and what God has taught us.
You see, when we prayed, we both said that we felt like God was NOT saying “these are YOUR kids, pursue them headlong!” But rather, He was saying “default to yes.” He has commanded us to care for orphans and widows. And when the opportunity to do so presents itself, He wants us to default to doing so. So rather than praying “should we care for this orphan?” we pray “is there a reason NOT to care for this orphan?”
I do believe that every big decision should be bathed in prayer, wise counsel, and consideration. And I know that not everyone is called to adopt, or foster. Just the same, not everyone is called to go overseas for missions. But we are all called to participate. So for us, we will default to yes.
Friday, December 31, 2010
For Reals
Alright, we finally did it. For real this time...we mailed in our program agreement and first payment for our next adoption. So we should be getting a call in a week or so telling us who our Family Coordinator is and our instructions for paperchasing. Also, our Social Worker will be notified to contact us to do the homestudy. She's a pretty speedy lady so that part won't take long, I suspect.
Even though we've done this before it's a whole new ball game this time. First of all, we're in a different state which changes things. Second, Ethiopia now requires two trips rather than one. And third, our agency now requires us to do Hague training which we didn't have to do last time. So, while I have gotten a bit of a head start on the paperchasing, I really do have to wait for my instructions.
Even though we've done this before it's a whole new ball game this time. First of all, we're in a different state which changes things. Second, Ethiopia now requires two trips rather than one. And third, our agency now requires us to do Hague training which we didn't have to do last time. So, while I have gotten a bit of a head start on the paperchasing, I really do have to wait for my instructions.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
December
December has been quite the month for us. Specifically, last Wednesday was quite the day. I received an email from Isabelle's social worker stating that they had identified a home that could accomodate Isabelle and her siblings together, and that there would be a meeting to discuss transitioning her on 12/14/10. We were so sad to hear about her moving, but also hopeful that she would be placed with a great family where she could maintain a relationship with her siblings. We didn't even know if we would be able to see her open the Christmas gifts we had bought her. It was heartbreaking. Then on 12/14/10 I was preparing mentally for the meeting in two hours that would determine Izzie's fate with us, and the social worker called to say that the meeting was canceled and the prospective family was no longer an option. She will indeed spend Christmas with us, and we are back on the roller coaster ride that is foster care.
Something else happened last Wednesday. Sadly, two of our beloved pastors (Matthew's co-workers) resigned from their positions at the church. For those of you who don't know- that's 50% of the staff! It is so sad to say goodbye to our friends, but they are leaving to chase after the Lord's will for their lives and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for Matt and Chris, as well as the Journey Church.
I don't think we could possibly experience an emotion that hasn't been experienced in the past couple of weeks. But as always, there is hope!
Something else happened last Wednesday. Sadly, two of our beloved pastors (Matthew's co-workers) resigned from their positions at the church. For those of you who don't know- that's 50% of the staff! It is so sad to say goodbye to our friends, but they are leaving to chase after the Lord's will for their lives and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for Matt and Chris, as well as the Journey Church.
I don't think we could possibly experience an emotion that hasn't been experienced in the past couple of weeks. But as always, there is hope!
Monday, November 8, 2010
No movement with adoption. Much movement everywhere else!
Well, in case anyone is wondering, there is no movement on the adoption. None. We got the phone call about being approved, followed by the email with some program agreements and such to sign and send back with our first payment. And there it still sits, in my inbox.
Mostly, I think Isabelle's placement has derailed us a bit. We've got our hands full with two pre-schoolers. And though they are both very easy on us, the appointments with social workers, educational specialists, phone calls from parents, paperwork, etc. are quite time consuming. In fact, right now I must go pick her up from daycare and take her to a well-child exam that is required within 21 days of placement. But it is a blast, it is a blessing, and we love it (and her!).
So, hopefully the blog will not go ignored for another 9 months!
Mostly, I think Isabelle's placement has derailed us a bit. We've got our hands full with two pre-schoolers. And though they are both very easy on us, the appointments with social workers, educational specialists, phone calls from parents, paperwork, etc. are quite time consuming. In fact, right now I must go pick her up from daycare and take her to a well-child exam that is required within 21 days of placement. But it is a blast, it is a blessing, and we love it (and her!).
So, hopefully the blog will not go ignored for another 9 months!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
First Foster Kid!
Well, we got our first foster placement today! It was quite chaotic (I expected nothing less, really). We were originally told she would be placed Friday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then back to Friday, and finally back to today! Whew! So the day has involved picking her up from previous home, enrolling in daycare, washing clothes, taking the paper shredder and computer out of her room and replacing with toys, filling out papers, papers, papers. Eeek!
She is 3.5 years old and her name is Isabelle. I can't say much because of confidentiality, but she is sweet, mild-mannered, and well-behaved (so far :). Picky eater, which is new to us because Eli will generally stuff anything in his mouth. And she has really taken to Matthew. Eli's been a bit jealous, but he's been really good to her (again, so far :)
Life just got a bit busier!
She is 3.5 years old and her name is Isabelle. I can't say much because of confidentiality, but she is sweet, mild-mannered, and well-behaved (so far :). Picky eater, which is new to us because Eli will generally stuff anything in his mouth. And she has really taken to Matthew. Eli's been a bit jealous, but he's been really good to her (again, so far :)
Life just got a bit busier!
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