May 11th – “I think it’s Time”

Yesterday I was e-mailing back & forth with my coordinator. We are STILL waiting for paperwork on the potential sibling set and we don’t know when it will come in; hopefully next week, but maybe not. We thought it would’ve been ready some time ago. In the conversation our new, dear friends’ names came up. It didn’t seem fair to keep them waiting when they were ready and we were not. They, of course, had to anxious to meet their boys.

I said I would call Kristen in the morning to let her know what was going on and to see where things stood. I was so sad. We wanted to travel together, I felt bad they were waiting for us, and I was sad we are still waiting.

I called Kristen this morning and told her what was happening. I told her we were hoping the paperwork would come in next week. I felt so happy when she said they still wanted to travel with us. We left it that they would wait until next week to see if we get our match, if not, they would probably move ahead without us.

Because yesterday had me so bummed, I had contacted my dear friend, Janie, to see if she could come over today. I needed someone to cheer me up, to distract me. I was so thankful she could come. While we were in the middle of “distraction therapy” I received an e-mail from my coordinator saying she got an interesting e-mail from our new facilitator and that she’d tell me more in a sec. What? That’s it? Torture!!!

Then my phone rang…. It was about 10:40 am and the caller ID showed it was my adoption coordinator. I held my breath. My first thought was, “what’s wrong?” I will never forget the words that came out of her mouth, “I think it’s time.” My response was, “You think it’s time for what?’ Again, I held my breath. She then said, “I think it’s time you got your referral”. “Are you serious?” is all I could say as the tears started falling; a huge weight was lifting from my shoulders as she proceeded to tell me about my new children.

After I hung up the phone, I saw a second e-mail from her letting us know that the facilitator was planning on us attending court on June 2^nd. June 2^nd!!! That’s only 3 weeks away!!! I suddenly had major butterflies! I was so glad Janie was there to share the moment with me.

I immediately tried to call Ken and wouldn’t you know it, he didn’t answer his work phone or his cell phone. He finally called back about a half and hour later, and although he was disappointed he missed my call, He was just as excited as I was about the news. He wanted me to send their pictures and info, right away, to him at work.

I then had to call Kristen. She was at the pool with her son. Let me tell you, she gave me the BEST reaction, happily screaming incoherently.  Even today, I have no idea what she said.

Several more things I did today. 1) Called a couple more close friends to give them the good news. I totally loved that! 2) Had our Dr. look over the kids medicals (it’s just something you do). 3) Called our coordinator back after Ken got home to say, "Yes, yes, yes!!!!!" to the referral.

I still can’t believe that we got “THE CALL” today. I was beginning to think it would never happen. I have been staring at their pictures ever since…..Thank you Jesus!!!



Behind Again

Yes, once again I am very behind on updating the blog….surprise?!

So much has happened over the last month+. I can’t wait to share all about it all with you. First though, I want to take a step back and share with you a “path” change we experienced in February.

As we shared with you, we lost a potential match on January 18^th. And while we were heartbroken, we knew God was in total control. 

On February 5^th our coordinator informed us that she had been contacted by a facilitator in Ghana that was interested in working with AAI. She had heard good things about him, but had no personal experience working with him. She informed us they would be looking for a family to be a “test case” and wondered if we might be interested.

Ken and I asked a bunch questions (that’s who we are) and of course we prayed about it. Ken and I had such a peace about this new path. Not only did we feel peace, we also felt joy. We both felt this new path would lead us to our children. On February 10^th we said “Let’s get going!” J 

We did not share this information publically because we wanted to be cautious. We had already dealt with so much and we decided to keep it quiet incase something went wrong on this uncharted path. 

Over the next couple of months we got our paperwork in order, met a WONDERFUL family that would also be going down this new path with us (the plan was we would travel together), and dealt with soooo many emotions as we waited. And waited. And waited. 

On April 14^th we learned that things were happening, excitement set in. On April 23^rd we learned of a potential sib set. We just had to wait for the rest of the children’s paperwork to come in. And again we waited. And waited.

Over those months we got to know Kristen & Ryan (our potential travel buddies). We have so much in common; we really clicked. We spent time talking about our potential trip; where we’d stay, what we’d do. We looked forward to traveling together. They had received their match and were waiting for ours to happen.

Right Now

Today has been an emotionally blah day. Multiple times today I cried out to God. I so badly want to meet my children. I so badly want to move beyond waiting for a referral; we’ve been waiting for over a year.  Since we started this process, I have watched several families complete their adoptions, are now matched for another. I’m so thrilled for them, but to be honest I have a little bit of “that’s not fair”.

While I know in my head that He is in control and that His timing is perfect, today I don’t want to have to wait anymore.

Ken took Jacob & I out to lunch today. He had some great stuff happen at work & we went to celebrate at a local Chinese buffet. I shared with him my blah feeling and how I’ve been crying out to God today. After the meal I opened my fortune cookie and I had to laugh. God is so funny. Now, please know that I do not give much credence to fortune cookies, but I believe God used it to tell me what I needed to hear. While it was not the message I wanted, I had to say, “Ok God, I hear you loud and clear”. The message was, “Right now you need to be patient”.

Fingerprints: Again

Today Ken & I, along with a sick Nicole, drove 2½ hours, each way, for a 10 minute appointment. Thankfully the weather was nice and the travel was good.

Funny moment: Nicole was with me as I was getting my fingerprints done. She was making me nervous, because while my hands were busy, she was touching various pieces of their equipment. The woman taking my fingerprints told me not to worry about it. She said Nicole was fine as long as she didn’t touch the camera. No sooner was the word “camera” out of the woman’s mouth; Nicole reached up and grabbed it. Thankfully, the woman didn’t get upset, she just started laughing. Sigh. That’s my girl!



It’s In the Mail…Again

Yay! We received USCIS’s approval for the age amendment on Friday. Now I’m mailing off the request to have our fingerprints redone. We have to get our fingerprints redone due to the fact that our current ones expire in April. Who knew fingerprints expire? It would be too simple to just re-run our fingerprint through the system.

Heartbreaking Day

This month was supposed to be a happy one. We were certain, based on information we had received, that we would get a match this month. Today I sent a “just checking” email to our coordinator, she in turned replied with bad news. The children that were potentially going to ours were pulled from the adoption program by the orphanage director and put up for independent adoption. We are heartbroken.

Even though we are really sad right now, we still know that God is in control and that His timing is perfect.



It’s In the Mail

This week we received our updated home study and endorsement letter from our home study agency. Today we mailed to USCIS our request for the age to be amended to age 7.