Our First Ethiopian Feast

We decided Christmas break was a fabulous time to have our first adventure in Ethiopian food!!  So we ventured out in the blistering cold last night to a local restaurant, Little Africa.  

We discussed with the kids beforehand that this was going to be all totally unfamiliar, very different tasting food and we were so proud of them for their willingness to try everything!

The mango juice was definitely a favorite:

  The guava juice was also a hit:

And the tea was knock-it-out-of-the-park AMAZING!!!

We didn't try coffee this time around, but loving coffee like I do, I still thought a random photo was necessary. :)

The giant plate of food that we shared!

There are no utensils used.  In Ethiopian meals, the injera bread, a large, sourdough flat bread, is used to scoop up all the different stews and dishes.  We ate a combination platter, a sample of everything which was quite the feast!!  We found that some dishes were way to spicy for us (and especially the kids) but others were so unique and flavorful!!  Now that we've tried everything, we'll probably stick to the more mild dishes.  We look forward to going with family and friends!

Movin' On Up!

We received an update from our agency this week and we are now....

#20

It's a slow progression but at least we are moving!!!  

We would love for you to pray for us as we wait through this process. Here are some specific requests:

*  Patience - pray that we are patient and trust in God's timing as we wait.

*  Protection and safety for our children, wherever they are right now.

*  That God continues to prepare our hearts, including the hearts of KJ and J as our family dynamics  and home life will change in a major way!

Those are just a few requests....I'm sure there will be more to come.  Thank you for your prayers!!

A Quiet Pain. . .

It's been four months now since we've been on the wait list and seven months since we began the formal adoption process.  As the wait goes on, God continues to work a miracle in our hearts.    We imagine these little ones who will be joining our family...wondering if they are born yet...if they are safe....what they are going through.  And love grows inside us for these unknown littles.  By His grace, HE prepares our hearts for them.    

I've felt especially emotional lately, an achy heart, so to speak.  I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what was going on.   *Teresa, who I met via email when researching agencies, has become a friend and mentor to me (both in homeschooling and adoption).  She explained it beautifully in her blog today, giving words to how it feels to be waiting.  (She's describing how she would walk around a field and pray for her child as they waited during the adoption process.)

"Who would this little one be? A girl, mostly likely. What would she look like? What would her story be? How would our hearts mesh together? Lap after lap I would cry out to God from the secret pain in my heart–the pain of loving and wondering and carrying her unknown heartaches and trouble. My life carried on as usual, but somewhere out there a little one would be hurting… she would become my little one. I had nothing to show for it, just a quiet ever-present pain."

Continuing to pray for His comfort and patience as we wait. . .

*Teresa and her husband planned on adopting one girl, and brought home three year old twins!  If you'd like to check out her blog and their life together, click here.  

Before You Were Mine

As we've moved forward in this adoption process, we have read a variety of books, trying to learn as much as we can about adoption, attachement, bonding, etc.

One of the more recent books I read is called, Before You Were Mine, which is a guide for adoptive parents in creating a Lifebook for their adopted child.  The purpose of this Lifebook is to help document the details and personal story of a child's life before and after adoption.

Even though we don't know our children yet, I am encouraged to have a resource to guide us in the process of documenting their lives in Ethiopia and how they become a part of our family.

I was one of ten women who reviewed the book for Carissa which is on her website, here if you'd like to read it.

Before You Were Mine would be a fantasic gift for someone you know who is adopting or who has adopted!!

Moments with Mimi

Several weeks ago, my mom and Jerry came over to watch a MSU/Michigan game.  J watched the game with Poppy (Jerry) and my mom (Mimi) taught KJ and I how to make jewelery.  It was a ton of fun and we finished a pretty new bracelet together.  KJ loves those moments with Mimi!!

November Update!!

Last Thursday was the beginning of a new month which means I was checking my email every 10 minutes to receive the update from our agency of our placement on the waiting list.  :)

We truly believe that God is in control and He knows the timing and placement of our future child(ren), but I'm telling you...knowing where you are on the waiting list is something I think most waiting parents become obsessed with!!  It's the only connection you have of how long until you know something about your future kids!!

All that to say, we did receive an update Thursday and it looks like we are now #22.  It's not moving as fast as we'd like, of course, but again....not our timing....but HIS.  We also know the time it takes to move through an international adoption is long because of the paperwork and precautions taken to insure the best interest of the children.  We wouldn't want it any other way.

To keep ourselves busy, we decided to get passports for J and KJ!!  We are still not positive if they will be joining us for our first trip, but just in case, we want to be ready.  :)

Creative Consequences

If your house is anything like mine, you find a random collection of items scattered throughout the house at any given moment.  I'm sure for our family, part of it is that we are home together every day..... but how is it that no one can seem to pick up after him/herself?

I take the blame.

Clearly, I haven't trained my kids well in the area of picking up after themselves but I'm telling you - it's going to stop.  I'm drawing a line in the sand and these kids are either going to pick up after themselves or.... or..... well, lets just say mama can't take it any longer.  

I came upon a blog of another mom who was also exasperated with the junk laying everywhere so she decided to create a 'ransom box".  The basic idea is this: if after one request of "Please put your stuff away", the 'stuff' is left out, the mom gathers the items and places them in a 'ransom box'.  For a child to get his things back, he needs to draw from a bag the 'ransom' to pay in order to get the item back. Her ideas were a variety of creative tasks ranging from scrubbing the bathtub to telling your sibling three reasons you love her.

I can't tell you how this plan will work long term, but I can say that after my son had to do 25 jumping jacks while shouting, "My mom is da bomb!" I don't think he will leave his favorite sweatshirt on the living room floor again.  :)

If you'd like to check out her blog and see her list, check it out here.  

Artprize 2012

Every year I am AMAZED at Artprize.  Creative people.  Unconventional materials.  Lovely eye candy.  Who would think to use bottle caps for a self-portrait???  Or Jelly Belly's?  How about taking a solid piece of black walnut and creating a seal only by burning the wood !!!!!

And then we have the extraordinary talented Mr. Chris LaPorte.  

Astounding.

The room that City Band was in was definitely my favorite and actually took my breath away.  When you walk in, on the right, you see City Band.  In the middle of the room there is a collage of sorts on the floor of little photo frames that looks like nothing as you're walking around it.  Until you get to the front of it and see that all the little photos form one giant portrait:

From the first moment you step into this particular room, though, you see a smattering of colored papers on the left hand side of the room.  I will confess to you now, that when I initially walked in and glanced to the left, I though, "Wow, a collage of colored paper.....art???"  However....the mystery continued as we meanered throughout the room.   I kept looking at the colored pieces of paper and also noticed a light slowly going on....and going off.  It wasn't until Ryan pointed out to me that I understood that the papers were actually shaped so that the shadows were profiles of people's faces!!!  

99 distinguishable profiles of real people - you could even glance closely and see eyebrow hairs and extremely tiny whiskers.  I loved this - so creative and mind-boggling.  

Can't wait until next year!!!

A New Baby (not ours)

As we slowly move up the list to find out the newest member of our family, we are thrilled to have added another one to our extended family!  My brother and sister-in-law had their second daughter several days ago.  Below are some photos from the hospital.  There is nothing like holding a newborn baby - priceless!!!

One of my favorites - baby feet!!

Moment with Mama

Kisses from Mimi

September Update

We are officially 24 on our waitlist!!!  Our family is still open to one or two kids so I go back and forth thinking about what adding one....or two would be like for us!

We had a wonderful end of summer and have now entered into the school year, beginning to homeschool our kids.  It's defintitely been an adjustment from the old way of doing things (them leaving all day and me being home by myself) but overall, it's been wonderful.  

We are working on getting into the groove of it all - balancing our time well with learning and fun.  But already, there's been moments of pure joy that I feel are directly from the Lord.  We are only two weeks in and I know it will be filled with ups and downs, but am excited and grateful to be on this journey!

Here are a couple photos of natural beauty that I witnessed a two nights ago.  God's glory!!!  (These are unedited to show you the extreme color and vibrance of the rainbows.)

Wait List!!!!

We got the news today that we are officially on the wait list!!

Last week, Monday, the kids and I drove around town getting our I-171H notarized, then 'sealed' at the Secretary of State's office and then off in the mail to D.C.  Everything was approved because our caseworker told me this morning that she is sending our dossier off to Ethiopia and we are on the list!!

My best guess for how long we will be waiting is 9-12 months.  Of course, we would hope it would be sooner, but it's something that you can't predict.

So while we wait, please join us in praying - praying for the additon(s) to our family - they they are safe and are well loved, wherever they are.  Also, please pray for us that we can be patient and prepare our hearts and minds for our newest family member!

We're Approved!!

Yesterday, the 21st, we received our I-171H in the mail!!  This is the formal document from the US Governement, approving us to adopt.  Yippee!!  Now this week, I have to get the documents sealed and sent off to be authenticated by the Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington D.C.  Once that happens, our dossier is off to Ethiopia and we are on the waiting list!!  (This should take a week or two, I'm guessing.  We'll see!!)

This is an exciting milestone - finishing the majority of the paperwork!!  We know that there is a long time of waiting ahead but we are comforted to know that God already has planned the child or children He has for our family!!

A Slight Delay. . .

On Saturday I opened the mailbox, giddy with excitement, when my eyes fell upon a letter from the US Department of Homeland Security!  However, after opening the much anticipated letter, I found that it wasn't our I-171H, but a document explaining that there was a very small detail missing from our packet that we sent.  Knowing our caseworker would know what to do, I scanned it and sent it off to her.  She wrote me back and said, thankfully, she believes it is their error.  She is calling today to work it out so hopefully we will continue to move forward!!!   

Fingerprints!!!

On Thursday of last week, KJ came running in with the mail, asking, "Is this one of them?"  Obviously, she has been scouting the mail, also looking forward to our fingerprint appointment letter arrival. Thankfully, it was the document we were waiting for. .  but with an appointment for July 17 - almost three weeks away!!!

So Friday morning, rearranging our scheudles and getting up and out a little earlier than normal, the four of us took off for the USCIS Support Center and thought we'd see if we could possibly, maybe, per chance get in ahead of our scheduled appointment.

The workers there seemed not too thrilled with our request, however, stated it was possible but we would have to wait until the room was completely empty (of people who had scheduled appointments). At that moment, there were only three people ahead of us but the worker claimed, "we would probably be waiting awhile".  Since we only had a window of one half hour, we decided to fill out the paperwork and see what happened.

As Ryan looked at the scheduled appointment while we sat and waited, he also noticed that he would not be able to make the appointment on the 17th, due to work.  If we couldn't get in, we would have to re-schedule for an even later date.

So, we sat there. . . hoping and praying no one else would enter the building (because they would automatically get to go ahead of us....the employees were clear - there had to be no one else there).  (I also texted my good friend Amy who paused in her day and prayed with her kids that we could get the fingerprinting done.)

After just a mere 10 minutes, the room was empty and the worker called me over.  When I was done, still no one new had come in the building so he also took Ryan.  As Ryan was in the middle of getting his fingerprints, people came in the building.  Whew!!  We seriously were there at the exact right time!!!

The only reason this is a big deal is because we know that there is a bit of waiting during the adoption process.  However, when there is anything that we can accomplish like paperwork, fingerprints, etc., we want to do it as quickly as possible so the process isn't waiting on us!  :)

We are now waiting for the I-171H document to come in the mail which we've been told takes about three weeks - could be sooner, could be longer.  Yeah.  That's not much direction in how long it will be but I will post as soon as we get it.  Once we do, our dossier can be sent to Ethiopia and we are put on a waiting list for our child (or children)!  :)

USCIS Packet Received

We were notified last week that the USCIS received our packet of  information - yahoo!!    Now we have to wait for another document to come in the mail for us to have a scheduled time for our "biometrics to be electronically captured" (translation = fingerprinted).  We are watching the mail daily, enthusiastic to move forward towards bringing our little one(s) home.

Although not pregnant physically, our hearts are growing in anticipation of bringing more children into our family.  When I was expecting my first two kids, I would daydream about holding them, playing with them, cuddling. . . and watching them grow.  And now, I find myself daydreaming again...but it's a little different this time around not knowing if we'll have a boy or girl....one or two...a baby... (you get the idea).    I'm grateful to the Lord, daily, that our hearts continue to swell with eager excitement of meeting and loving the new little people of our family.   :)


Hopefully I'll have some more news soon!!!

USCIS Packet - On It's Way!!!

After waiting a week for copies of our notarized homestudy, we got the call yesterday that it was ready for us!!  I went straight from the adoption agency to the Post Office with our next packet of paperwork ready to go (we were waiting for the homestudy to send this).  It has been overnighted and should be to it's destination today by noon.

This packet is going to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  It sounds like this will be another waiting process of around 8 weeks (give or take several weeks).   We are just happy to be moving forward!!!  :)

What Our Kids Thought - Part II

Another way our kids expressed their enthusiam about the adoption was wanting to learn more about Ethiopian culture and language right away.  We checked out some books from the library, including an Amharic dictionary.

When I went to kiss KJ goodnight the day we got this book, she showed me her notebook of how she was practicing words that might be important to learn - 'Brother'.  'Mother'.  'Sister'. . . .

My heart was especially blessed, though, when she pointed to some of the words she copied and said, "Mom, I copied 'love', 'I' and 'you'....so I can tell them (her new brother or sister), 'I love you'".

Home Study Complete!

After six references, four health reports, three home visits, three online courses, two background checks, and one book, our home study is complete!!  Well, close to complete - All of the paperwork is with our agency who will write up the final report so we can continue moving forward in the adoption process!!! :)  I was told this will take around a week or so.  As we wait for that, we're gathering the documents needed for the USCIS - the next step!!

What Our Kids Thought

Once Ryan and I felt like it was time to throw out this adoption idea to our 7 and 9 year old kids, we wrestled with how to do it.  We decided the best approach was to tell them it was something we were 'thinking and praying about' and see what they thought.

We couldn't have anticipated their reactions!!!  They were both so excited and embraced the idea of having siblings and in their words, "being able to help someone who needs help".

We told them on a Friday and all weekend answered questions they had and tried to talk to them about all the changes that would take place if we did eventually adopt.

On Sunday, during the service, KJ was busy sitting next next me drawing something and hiding it so I couldn't see it until it was completed.  Once she had finished, she nudged me with a big smile and showed me this simple drawing.

She drew Ethiopia, with a building titled "orphanage" (her spelling is a little off :) ).  From within the building are the quotes, "Please do it, please! They both said".  She told me those are our kids in Ethiopia telling us to adopt them.   We thought it was so sweet that she was imagining what 'our kids' in Ethiopia were thinking!!

The Adoption Process

As Ryan and I have begun to tell people that we are adopting, lots of questions are always asked.  So, here's a breakdown of the most popular.  :)

Q:  How did you decide to adopt?
A:  I don't mean to be evasive with the very first Q and A but that is a long story of how God worked in our hearts and lives.  I'll describe that later in it's own post.  I can say, briefly, that He has guided us and called us on this journey for our family and we are so excited to expand our family through adoption.

Q:  Where are you adopting from?
A:  Ethiopia

Q:  Just one child?
A:  Actually, we feel like God has placed two children on our hearts.  However, we continually are praying and asking God for His guidance as we decide on adopting one or two children.  We are open to either - whatever He wants for us.

Q:  Boy or girl?
A:  We are thinking we would like to bring at least one girl into our family, but again, really trying to stay open to what the Lord has for us.

Q:  What age are you hoping for?
A:  I don't mean to sound like a broken record repeating myself, but we continue to pray through the age of the kids as well.  Right now, we have the age range to 0-4.  That means that we could get a one and a four year old....or a two year old and a three year old.... or an infant and a four year old.  We just have an age range that we tell the adoption agency we are open to.

Q: What does the process look like?
A:  This is a long answer but I'll try to keep it concise.  There are three main phases of the paperwork process.  We are in the first phase (Home Study).

Paperwork Process:

1.  Home Study - background checks, medical check-ups, several references, financial information as well as personal visit with our caseworker and several reading assignments (online training or books on adoption).

2.  USCIS - this is a packet of documents that needs to be submitted to the US government to meet US requirements.  This includes things such as birth certificates, marriage certificate and a copy of the entire home study (everything that our case worked compiled on us in the Home Study).

3.  Dossier - another packet of documents that meet Ethiopian country requirements.  This includes notarized copies of various official documents, reference letters, health certificates, etc.

After each document packet is submitted to it's respective country, they each take a certain, unknown amount of time to be approved or get the appropriate paperwork back to move forward.  I think a reasonable amount of time to anticipate these first three things taking place would be 3-5 months.  I will keep this blog updated as to where we are specifically on the right hand column.  :)

After all of the paperwork is done, we get on a referral list.  As children become available for adoption, they are referred to the families on the top of the list.  So, as children are referred, our family moves up the list.  This is also a very unknown time frame with so many factors contributing.  A reasonable guess would be 12 - 18 months after the paperwork is all submitted.  Of course, we would love to have it move faster than this, but we have no control over it and need to be patient as we wait.

And now for the last question:

Q:  What do your kids think about adopting?
A:  . . . to be answered in the next post  :)

Adopting

I've decided to resurrect this blog as a personal journal of our adoption journey.  Thankfully, we have many supportive family and friends who would like to stay updated.  So, I'll try my best to use this blog to do just that!!

A New Website

I'm happy to say that I have a new website for my photography.  Click Photography by Kamarah to check it out and subscribe to the blog if you'd like to get updates!  - Kamarah

Tasty Treats

Even though we had a huge handful of sickness over Christmas break at our house, we still had some time to make some yummy treats.

The mother of my roommate from college used to make these and bring them to us when she visited (although, hers never had sprinkles and you'll see in the following photos, ours are excessivly sprinkled :) ).  Everytime I make them now, I think of those fun college days.