Sometimes you just need a break

There has been so much going on in Vos world of adoption that I think it is time to just sit back and take a deep breath, stick your toes in the lake and enjoy our current surroundings.

The referrals have be slow. Well maybe the word non-existent is a better term. Due to the police not referring any abandon children in the capital city (instead putting them in a government facility), double triple checking everything to avoid possilble issue with child harvesting and just slowdowns within our agency, we have not seen any referrals since summer.

Good news is that our agency was cleared of any issues within the investigation by the Michigan department of child services. I am sure it was a battle that went on for months. The media coverage did not help with new sign ups, thus putting the agency seriously behind with new revenue. Hopefully now they can rebuild their name and get on top of the contriversary.

Bad news is that our coordinator Kim parted ways with our agency. The details of this are shrowded in secretcy. We don't know if she left, was fired, downsized or just mutually decided to part? It doesn't matter as it is none of our business, but this does put many people in the blues and the news does not do anything to raise spirits.

The single moms are still waiting to hear if they can still adopt. The laws in Ethiopia say yes, but MOWA is still not approving any of the moms. My heart crys for these gals. So much they have had to do to pull off the adoption finacially. Now this. Hopefully good news will come soon. If not, I think we will need to move our expectations up a bit as I am sure we will jump ahead drastically on the list. Nothing we could ever feel good about.

Read a good called "orphaned". Totally recommend it to anyone in the process.

Lastly, feeling good about the savings for our final adoption fees. I was able to put these all aside in a special bank account just waiting for "the call". The international aid fund is just a few hundred dollars away from being all set. I know that this will just finish on it's own with our family and friends. That only leaves the travel, which could easily go on a credit card or come out of our savings. It is really a gift not to have this stress to deal with of money!

This weekend is our annual adoptive moms dinner. I plan to blog about this seperately. It will be a blast!

Our favorite adoption Video

This is Little Luv's favorite adoption video. Well actually favorite in general. She wants to see it every time I get out my computer. Most kids say Barney or Elmo. LL wants the "babies". I would have to say we have watched it several hundred times. Good thing the music is awesome!

I recently received an email from the proud parents and the adopted kids are doing great. This makes watching the video even better.

My favorite part is where the father (Dave) reminds his wife (Rae) to remove her shoes just before she excepts the children. What a overwhelming moment in their lives and yet the both still want to be respectful. What great character! LL's favorite parts are the lady praying, the babies in the bath and the mommy (Rae) waving at the airport. Let me know what your favorite part is! comment below.

Results of the sale

I am sure you all are wondering how the sale went and I am so sorry it took so long to update you. I have been busy catching up on all the things we let go while preparing for the sale. Sunday we unloaded and cleaned up the big mess we made prep’n for the sale. I did not even get to sleep till late Sunday night and I was actually a little less awake than a zombie.

The sale went wonderful!!!!

All week long amazing things happened and out of the blue surprises. I think it was a blessing from God, for sure. Let me tell you about a few...Lots of donations showed up from family, friends and coworkers. Several people from my company pitched in to design signs, handouts and borrow tables for us to use during the sale. My boss David, Lynn, Lisa, Tom and Monique were probably the most involved, but everyone seemed to be very supportive. My two friends, Debbie and Tanya came to my home to help price hundreds of items. Yes hundreds. Some of the stuff was junk and had to be sorted cleaned and grouped by category. It was grubby work. We priced or pitched, then boxed. It was great catching up with them. Time flew by! Things were progressing but slowly. So later in the week, my mom and Krista took turns helping play with the baby and price so we had a hope of finishing on time. Then all the boxes and clothes were loaded into 4 trucks and one 23 foot trailer. The boxes were stacked two high on the trailer and packed to the brim of the trucks. It looked like we were moving a small city. Little-love stayed with Grandma so to stay clear of the chaos.

We had sale day volunteers withdraw on us early in the week. I was in complete panic that I was not going to be able to pull it off working alone. Then, for no reason what so ever I have new volunteers (Jeannette, my dad, Sango and Joe) contacted us last minute and agree to help in whatever way they could. They were so full of positive spirit that they ended up being twice the enthusiasm of the people who could not come. Like we got an upgrade- hahaha.

We all woke up at 4am on Saturday morning, loaded up with coffee and then headed to the ball park. We unloaded in the dark. My Dad added to the convoy with his truck filled with donations too. Unloading was amazing with Sango and Joe (we realized later that Rich could have never done it alone). They were right there handing us boxes and product and made it possible for Ellen, Krista and I to put things on the table in a appealing fashion. Sango’s positive attitude was like the sunshine before the sun rose giving everyone a boost of energy and Joe was super helpful, kind and hardworking. I was still a little tense with anticipation before the sale. Maybe bossy would be another word to describe it! I was terrified that we would not be ready to sell when the clock hit 8am...but we made it. Then the sunshine came out. The people started flooding in the booth and the fun began.

Can you believe the weather on Saturday? It was absolutely perfect! Everyone working the booth was having a blast. Ellen had a sensitivity about her that just made people feel good about the purchase they made. She is the queen of yard sales and the one everyone turned to her for advice. Jeanette was the big money girl, landing all the big sales and donations in the shortest amount of time. I think people are drawn to her style and smile. Jen was like everyone’s personal shopper finding just the right items and matching them with shoppers so we did not have much left in the end. And then there was Krista; Krista was the work horse of the group and probably worked harder on the sale than anyone (including me)! She was the first to arrive and the last to leave. So flexible and open to serving wherever the sale needed her the most. Our friend Stephanie showed up to help sell latex balloons that were donated by creative events. We blew them up with helium. When Alpine rent-all found out what we were doing, they gave us 20% off (they are good guys there). It started to get hot as the day went on and our friend Monique surprised us with cold drinks! Everyone was really having fun and I know this because they did not want to leave when their time slot was over. All these things just happened perfectly and that is why I think that we were being looked after that day by someone from above!

During the sale I was absolutely “touched” by people’s kindness and attitude towards the cause of the orphan. People really cared! We could not believe some people would haggle 10 minutes to get an item for a quarter and then hand us a dollar and say “keep the change”. The bulk of the money raised was from selling the stuff at the booth, but the icing on the cake was the extra donations.

I felt it was a win, win, win, win. Not only were we able to raise lots of aid money (wow-za!) for 5 orphanages in Ethiopia, but we had the chance to really share and create awareness of the situation the orphan children are in. Plus the donated items got sold at a significant discount to many people who were so appreciative to get the bargain. Many single moms and older folks commented on how thankful they were to get the item they were buying and commented that they were able to get it because of the great price at the sale. Then on top of it all, the leftovers were donated to a mission in downtown GR. It could not have gone any better in my book. Everyone benefited!

When we first decided to do the sale, I was really worried we would not raise enough to cover the entry fee of $80.00 plus supplies. When all the money was counted and I emptied all my pockets, I had to recount the money in disbelief. The grand totals of the sale were a thousand dollars almost to the dime. That is half the money we agreed to raise for the orphans! That large sum will support 50 children for a whole year!! I added to the money we have been collecting and it pushed us nearly three quarters of the way to our goal. Only $560.00 to go!

We can’t thank everyone enough for their help. I am truly grateful and in awe of the amazing sale.

Kristie

Finally an update

A lot of time has passed and stuff has happened, so I thought it was time to finally update the blog. The good news is that Rich & I are still on track to adopt an orphaned girl from Africa.

The process has been a little delayed for two reasons.

First, due to an inquiry in Ethiopia regarding the plethora this spring of abandon children. From what I understand, they just found so many children abandoned in the streets that the government was compelled to look into the situation in an official way. In the end, the Ethiopian law enforcement found no evidence of misconduct but rather substantiation of the great impoverishment and destitution of the children in Ethiopia. This hurdle did not defeat Rich and I in any way, it actually made us more passionate to make a difference.

Even now, after the police have been cleared of any wrongdoing they are reluctant to bring abandon children to the orphanages. Instead they are being routed to a government facility. Rumor has it, that the facility may not be equipped to handle children.

In July MOWA (Ministry of women and children’s affairs) decided to move offices. this really made it difficult for any adoptions to take place during the move.

Now we embark upon the rainy season when the courts shut down. We will certainly see a adjournment on all adoptions during this time. We think they will open back up sometime in Oct.

Many anxious parents are struggling with all the continuous setbacks, impediments and instability of international adoption. Rich and I find this as “ordinary” for any international adoption and continue to be focused on the end goal.

The second reason the process is so long for us is that the rules say we need to adopt a child 9 months younger than our youngest child and we need the child to the same gender to share a room. Right now, the child found could at the most be 0-8 months old. This means lots of people who have adopted older children or boys, already have their children home. There are currently 7 families ahead of us in the same situation. We could get a call in the next few weeks or it could be many months. We really have no idea. We are content with the timing that is meant to be and feel unhurried. We believe this is our time to exclusively live life through our biological daughter's (Little V-Love) eyes and treasure the special moments we experience together in her first years.

During the wait we are just preparing for the call and journey. We have gone through a series of shots, done piles of paperwork, worked on creative ways to save money for the adoption, investigated travel arrangements and educated ourselves on how to care for the special needs that this child may have. I am even trying to learn how to manage out of control Ethiopian curls.

In addition to our adoption journey, Rich and I are trying to raise 2,000.00 of international aid for Ethiopian orphans. The added International Aid money will go to helping the many children who probably will never be adopted for a variety of reasons. This aid is separate from our adoption and travel costs that we personally will be funding.

To help facilitate this, we have cleaned out our basement and garage and are going to participate in the fifth-third ballpark. All of the money raised will go to aid the orphans left behind. If you want to help out, here are a few ways you can…

1.Donate your Clutter- If you have any items you have wanted to be rid of, we are taking good condition items valued over a dollar. Call me to arrange for an exchange before next Thursday 9-17-09.

2. Help at the sale- If you don’t have plans on Saturday, you could help work the sale and spend some time shopping too. I need a few good volunteers to take money and bag up sold items.

3. Put us in your thoughts and prayers- Praise God for all our supportive family and friends, ask for great weather and traffic for the sale, and his protection on those children needing our help.

Rich and I continue to be appreciative to be surrounded by such great people. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and excitement about our Adoption journey.

Good News...Bad News

We received good news, the court has decided to start accepting cases of children abandoned in Addis! Ethiopian staff will be working to submit new cases to the court ASAP, beginning with those families who accepted referrals prior to the investigation. We are thrilled to hear of such progress!!



While our family rejoices in this news, I also learned that MOWA (the Ministry of Women's Affairs) has decided to unexpectedly close their offices for a two-week period, beginning today and re-opening on July 23. It *could* potentially affect the outcomes of any court dates that may be scheduled from now until the day they reopen, because a court case cannot be approved without a letter of support written by MOWA. I have heard rumors that the courts may stay open in August. THAT WOULD BE GREAT!

Rollercoster bumpy wait of Adoption

For my few loyal blog followers, you may wonder why I have not posted in the last month? There just has not been any good news to share : ( As of early my the Ethiopian court is now no longer accepting the adoption case of any child abandoned in Addis Ababa until a report is issued by the police department. We do not know how long it will take for the police to issue their report, and for this temporary halt to be lifted. It does not matter where the child is currently residing--it now affects any child abandoned in Addis Ababa. The Department of State has issued a statement, which can be found at: http://adoption. state.gov/ news/Ethiopia% 20alert.html

Again, the reason for this hold is that a large number of cases of abandoned children were put into court within a short period of time from four orphanages. A judge took note of this, felt the number was too high, and has asked the police commission officials (who previously cleared the children, indicating they were abandoned) to further investigate this matter and report back to the court their findings. They were also not permitting agencies to put the cases of children who were abandoned into court. It continues to be unknown how long this investigation will take. Rich and I appreciate the court ordering an investigation when they have any concerns, as we want Ethiopian adoptions to be ethical.

Our hearts go out to you and everyone else in the midst of this news. It is certainly most hard for those with referrals who have fallen in love and yearn to get their child in the safety of their homes. It is also hard for those still waiting and wondering if this will cause additional delays and longer wait times. Frightened that Ethiopia could evolve into another Guatemala. And for those who have families home they can be laden with doubt or uncertainty, wondering of possible behind the scenes confiscation. This can all taint the pureness of their beautiful journey as adoptive parents.

I know it is hard for all of us to hear about the abandonment cases being put on hold. No one is untouched by this issue. However, if corruption is suspected, it must be dealt with immediately. The news media salivates over this kind of juice and takes now pause in sensationalizing adoption corruption. If you Google adoption corruption you will see that there are millions of postings saying how bad adoption is. Here is a recent article recently posted on MSNBC. http://www.slate. com/id/2217608/ ?Gt1=38001

My sister and her husband have beautiful daughter who is adopted. Before adopting her daughter, she adopted a little boy from Guatemala named Ben. On week of her travel to get her son, she received a registered letter in the mail from the Guatemalan government. It had said that Ben's DNA and the person claiming to be Ben's mother did not match. Ben would be moved to a government run home and could not be adopted out. The original women claiming to be the mother had fled. It was impossible with out her to find his true mother. After nine years, Ben became lost in the system and we do not know his destiny. This was a terrible horror for both my sister and the innocent baby.

No one wants this to happen to a child. We all really need to know that the children and the process are as safe and ethical as possible. As much as I hate to see any delays to getting children in the loving arms of their families, we hate even more to allow unethical corruption and abduction of children. The whole thing is scary for everyone, but we need to trust and pray that everything will be good. This whole process constantly teaches us that we really have no control and need to TRUST.

In the mean time, we can pray for the children affected. Ask God to help those who have to assure good ethics, that the process done quickly. Pray for patience and strength for the families. Help us all remind each other that most of us are on this journey protect and enhance the lives of the children and to make a difference for these children in a positive way. For this to be possible the system must also be honorable and upstanding.

Kristie

Happy Mothers day

Today is mothers day! Congrats to all those new moms. At this point I am officially still the mom of one crazy baby. I was wondering if It would be two? But no referral yet. And I don't really say that with regret.

We almost had a referral when we seen a waiting child posted. A little girl who had suffered some sever malnutrition. It breaks my heart than any child should ever land on a waiting children list. We saw her photo and asked our agency about her feeling desperate to find he a home quickly. Although I was not drawn to her photo, her story seemed to be a fit for us. I was nervous all weekend, could this be the one? It seem as if our referral was to be really far away and then BOOM! We were actually looking at a photo and wondering...do we almost have one? Are we really adopting? What was I thinking!

You know we constantly anticipate the referral and the journey seems so long and never ending. Or at least that is what I like to blog about! I know it is hard to understand, but when I though we had a referral, I honestly was in panic. No, could it be? Already. Am I ready for my summer to flop upside down? Are we ready for another baby? How will little V feel about a new baby? Feelings of joy were suddenly held hostage by desire to keep that one on one special time with our first daughter. It was odd and almost creepy that I was not a bit excited about a referral.

Well all for a good reason. Something good to blog about. Another family with our agency requested her information too. They had been waiting longer than us and took the referral. I was actually overjoyed. That is what we wanted most, the little girl to find a loving home. She was quite weak from starvation and had been hospitalized for her weight. At four months she was able to just now lift her head after the care at the orphanage, but still had a long way to go. I do not know all the details, but must have had a rough life up to this point. I will continue to pray for little "K" that she is able to find her way home quickly and safely.

Now on Mothers day, I am going to kick back and spend 100% of the time with hugs and giggles from little V. She just loves these days where we can be together from morning to night! I will take the lessons from this month and cherish this special time that we have together...just her and I. When her little sister arrives, we will have lots of new joy, but we need to count this special moments of her and I together as sacred memories in the making. If she was not napping, I would give her a big squeeze this very moment!