Court date!!

I was only three days into my long term sub position on a Friday afternoon. I had just given my students a reading assignment. Luckily the classroom was quiet which made it perfect timing for the school secretary to call my room and say, "Camille, I have your husband on the phone." My heart jumped as I knew at that moment why he was calling me. To tell me that we had a court date and would be going to Ethiopia! I listened as he explained that we received a court date of April 16th! I was trying hard to absorb all the details while managing to stay calm and poker faced in front of my students. They don't know that we are adopting and I wasn't ready to tell them. It was very hard for me, someone who isn't very good at hiding my emotions, to respond with a flat, "Wow. Is that so. I can't believe it." When all I wanted to do was jump up and down screaming!! I hung up the phone and tried to keep my head on and resume teaching. After letting out several screams inside my head, the next thing I wanted to do was put my head down on my desk and cry. I was overcome with so many emotions and the reality that after two years of waiting we were finally going to meet our little girl. My next thought was, "Wait, I am a sub. Now I will have to find a sub for a sub." God had already worked out that detail by placing a fellow substitute teacher in our church small group. My friend, Sharon, had already been praying over our adoption and we had previously joked that we would surely get our travel notice as soon as I started teaching. Of course, that is what happened. She was actually teaching in the building that day and unbeknown to me our secretary had already checked with her to see if she was available for the dates I would be gone. I hadn't even gotten home for the day before Sharon had sent me an email telling me she was available. What blessing!! I love how God placed us together in a small group and took care of this detail which is very important to me. Another very important detail was that of who is going to stay with our children while we are gone. I immediately call my parents to share the good news. After celebrating with them, I casually ask them what they have going on in April. They respond with, "A trip to Ohio, of course!" My parents are awesome!!!! Hooray!! We are going to Ethiopia!!!!!! This will be our first of two trips. On this trip we will meet K and spend time with her daily. Then, we will testify before court that we want to adopt her. After 5 days there, we will return home and wait for word of our second trip. I can't wait to get packing!!!!!! Here we come sweet K!

Mailing off our referral acceptance paperwork!

Andrew and me mailing off our referral acceptance paperwork. In the background is our friendly UPS worker, Andy, flexing for us!

We returned from Disney World to a frenzy of activity at home. After Luke and Brooke barfed their way through the Orlando airport due to them getting motion sickness on the "not so magical express" (By the way, if you ever want to get something past security just have your child start vomiting violently right before they go through the body scanner. They will let you through with anything!) we finally arrived home to begin the next stage of the acceptance process.

Tuesday:

We arrived home on a Tuesday morning and immediately set to work plowing through mountains of paperwork, hours of calls with our case worker and social worker, and sitting down spending several hours filling out our transition plan for when we arrive home. I had prayed that God would maximize our time somehow and He did! Somehow we managed to get through everything that day and still get the kids off to their activities that evening and care for a still sick Luke. I also was able to plan Luke's birthday party that night. Nothing like throwing together a birthday party at 11:00pm on a Tuesday night for a party that Saturday.

Wednesday:

I went into work to have my training day with the teacher I would be taking over for when she went on maternity leave. As we went through pages and pages of lesson plans I tried not to be overwhelmed, but deep down I was. I kept thinking about how I was ever going to get everything done. In the back of my mind I knew that we had to complete an updated home study, visit the international pediatrician, have more phone calls, get papers notarized, the list goes on and on. I just prayed that the teacher didn't have the baby until I was able to get through the next few days.

Thursday:

Morning visit with the international pediatrician. This was a wonderful visit and we loved the doctor we met with. She was so patient, kind, and answered all of our questions. Plus, she gave K a great report of health. Of course it is hard to determine that on paper, but as of now everything looks good. When she comes home for good we will bring her back in right away for a big check up. We left the doctor's office and I went home and filled out more paperwork, met Matt to get more papers notarized, then returned home to put everything together to be mailed off that afternoon! Whew! I picked Andrew up at the bus stop and we headed to the UPS store to mail off our acceptance paperwork. Since we were already delayed a few days by being gone and I wanted it in our agency's hands before the weekend, I decided to pay the ridiculous overnight fee like I always do. The people who work at our UPS store are so incredibly friendly and I asked them to take a picture of us with the packet before we mailed it off. When the woman asked what was so special about its contents and I told her they both went nuts and were so happy for us. Even one of the customers in the store became all excited and began telling us all about her adopted granddaughter. It was very special for Andrew and me to share this happy moment with strangers who were so happy for us. What a gift! So as Amanda, the UPS worker, went to take our picture she yelled for her brother, Andy, to flex in the background. We all laughed at the picture and I told them I would be posting it on my blog. Next, we rushed home to pick up Luke and Brooke and headed back to Matt's office to have an hour long call with the attachment specialist that evening. What a day!

Friday:

Finally, I could take a breath and spend a little bit of time processing the last 9 days. I did this as I walked the dog that morning. Then, it was back to a mad scramble to plan the rest of Luke's birthday party the following day. I also received confirmation that our packet arrived safely in Oregon! Hooray!! That night we were able to take the time as a family and go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at a church up the road from us. This was so fun for us as our family loves musicals and this is one of my favorites! The best part for me was hearing the song "Go, Go, Go Joseph." For whatever strange reason I have used this song to push myself through the hard times. Like when I am running a race and get to the end and am feeling tired. Or, when I am just busy and need to keep going. I sing the words to this song - "Go, go, go, Joseph you know what they say... Hang on now Joseph you'll make it someday.... Don't give up Joseph fight til you drop... we've read the book and you come up on top." So yes, I admit I am weird, but I thought it was perfect timing that I hear this song that has always helped me push through!! Thank you God for even that small detail!!

OUR REFERRAL CALL!!!!!!!

Little did we know that what this day would hold before we walked into Epcot!
Where we were standing when we got the call.

Listening intently to every word about our sweet little girl!

I can't believe that I am even writing these words!! It is official! We finally received our referral for a sweet little 4 year old girl. The best part about it is that it happened at one of favorite places, Disney World!! So here is our story. It was the morning of February 23rd and was our first full day after arriving at Disney. We were going to be at the parks for five full days and I had decided in advance that I was not going to take my phone in with me during any of those days. I didn't want any distractions and I just wanted to focus on our time together and not be burdened with carrying around my phone. I sent my parents and sister an email telling them that if they needed to get a hold of me to call Matt's phone because he would have his. That taken care of we set off for Epcot. We were standing in line for a new attraction called "Habit Heroes." We were told it was about health and fitness, and since I am a health fanatic I said lets do it. So there we were standing in line and Matt had his phone out to call his dad when he gets a call. We look at the number and when I realize who it is I could hardly speak. "Answer it! Answer it! That is our case worker!!" I KNEW at that moment that we were getting our referral!! Matt starts talking to her and because it was so noisy we said we would go find a quieter place to talk. Since we were at the front of the line about to go in we decided to go in anyway which was pure torture! It was the longest 15 minutes of my life! And it was a horrible attraction! After we finished we sprinted to the quietest place we could find and called her back. The five of us gathered around the phone to listen to her share about a little girl who had just come into Hannah's Hope. It was quite an experience trying to process everything she was saying and telling us. We knew at once that we wanted to move forward and learn more about her so after our phone call which lasted about 45 minutes we were able to look through some files and and see some pictures of this precious child. This was a little difficult as we were trying to download all of this from Matt's phone. Thank heavens for smart phones! I don't know what we would have done had we not been able to get to a computer and see her sweet face. Our caseworker then went through the next steps with us which gave me a slight cause for panic as we weren't going to be home for almost a week. And of course, my phone is the one that had the important numbers such as the international pediatrician, our social worker, etc on it. I mean really! The ONE day I don't have my phone on me! We agreed to do the best we could given our circumstances. After spending some time rejoicing and praying together we set off to bask in the excitement of the day. The other special part to the day is that it was Matt's mom's birthday and we were able to share our amazing news with his parents as they were there with us.

Now here is the best part! Well, two things really. The first is that I had JUST finished the night before a book titled, Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis which is a story about a young woman who moved to Uganda and began a school for children and adopted 14 little girls. It was truly an amazing story and my heart was on fire for the orphans in our world. The second thing is that the very MOMENT before we recieved the call I was staring at the space between where Matt and Brooke were standing in line (there was about a body space between them) and I thought to myself that I can't wait to have that space filled with another member of our family someday. I prayed that it would happen soon and that is when the phone rang!! GOD IS SO GOOD!

Disney World really is the place where dreams come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 years now

It was 2 years ago that I mailed off our adoption application to AGCI. We definitely thought that we would have been further along in this process by now, but all we can do is take one day at a time and live in the hope for what tomorrow may bring. A couple of weeks ago we had a very emotional week as a result of some issues that arose. I had already entered the week weary from some separate events that had taken place over the weekend. When I sat down on a Monday morning to read through my devotion book with Andrew before he got on the bus, this is what I read..........

I am with you and for you. When you decide on a course of action that is in line with My will, nothing in heaven or earth can stop you. You may encounter many obstacles as you move toward your goal, but don't be discouraged - never give up! With my help, you can overcome any obstacle. Do not expect an easy path as you journey hand in hand with Me, but do remember that I, your very -present Helper, am omnipotent.
Much, much stress results from your wanting to make things happen before their times have come. One of the main ways I assert My sovereignty is in the timing of events. If you want to stay close to Me and do things My way, ask Me to show you the path forward moment by moment. Instead of dashing headlong toward your goal, let Me set the pace. Slow down, and enjoy the journey in My presence.

It was amazing how God had prepared my heart with those words before I was even aware of the unsettling news we would receive a couple of hours later. I had to hold on to these words and keep them in my heart as we continued through an emotional week. We felt God's presence with us as He provided just the right friends and family to encourage us at just the right times through our emotional ups and downs of that week. I was also encouraged by some words spoken by my very wise bible study fellowship teaching leader. She spoke right to my heart when she said.......

God's way of leading is step by step. Very rarely does God give us the whole picture. Following God in the dark requires faith. We aren't going to be able to figure it out all on our won. When God closes a door we are to thank Him and when he opens a door we are to follow and trust Him. Take one step at a time. There is a next step.

Isaiah 30:21 has also brought me great comfort over the past two weeks........Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

We haven't received our January number yet, but I think we are 15.

October Number

We have gone from 37 in June to 30 in July to 27 in July to 21 in September to 20 in October. So we are moving on up!! We are beyond ready to get that referral call. I keep imagining what that day will be like.

I was about to get on a plane to Houston when we got our October number. I knew it was coming anytime and I kept checking my email over and over because I really wanted to find out before I got on the plane. I did find out just in time and my heart sank when I saw that we had only moved one spot. I immediately felt weak. It was as if all the strength was zapped from me. I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and got on the plane. Let me just say that I love how God works! He knew exactly what I needed during that plane trip because when I opened my BSF lesson, the very first day was about Paul's personal suffering in his journeys. I have always loved reading about Paul and we can learn so much from his attitudes towards suffering. While I am not experiencing physical suffering, I definitely have moments of complete weakness. In 2nd Corinthians 12:7 Paul pleaded for his torment to be taken away. The Lord responded by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

There are so many times when we feel weak through this process, but when we call on Christ and remain obedient to His call through this journey we are strong again. I have actually learned to delight in my weakness because just as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 12:10, "For when I am weak, I am strong." If I didn't experience such weakness, I wouldn't experience strength from Christ, and I wouldn't want to miss that.

AGCI picnic and new number

At a picnic with families from All God's Children adoption agency that have adopted children.
We are officially #37 on the girls list for June!

I was very disappointed that I never posted our May number (which was 37), so when we got our June number I had to laugh (or else I would have cried) because it was 37! That is right, we had no movement from May to June. We have officially been on the waiting list for over 9 months now which means our child is overdue!! At least that is how we feel. The adoption process is definitely a roller coaster ride emotionally. Some days we feel like it will never happen, and some days we feel that it will happen anytime. I know it sounds trite, but the only way we are holding on through this is knowing that God's timing for our adoption will be revealed at the perfect time. We truly believe that with all of our hearts!

We had the opportunity to attend a picnic put on by our agency. It was held in Cincinnati and we were able to stop by on our way down to our vacation. We couldn't stay long because we had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry that night, but it was wonderful to connect with other adoptive families and receive support and encouragement from them. I loved seeing all of the sweet children and seeing them with their families gave me the boost of encouragement that I needed. We were also able to meet one of our former case managers who had flown in from Portland. I loved getting to talk with her and put a face to the voice I had talked to so much on the phone. It is our great hope that next year we will be able to attend the picnic with our new little one!

Relying on Hope

As of early April (yes, I am a month behind!) we are currently #42 on the girls list. Over the past month there have been days when I feel like we are going to get that referral anytime (because of our parameters we most likely won't have to wait to get to that #1 spot) and then there are days when I feel like it is never going to happen. So when I feel discouraged I rely on the hope we have had all along. I know God is faithful and I know God keeps his promises. In my study of Isaiah I came across this verse which gave me a renewed sense of hope. I also read it as I was looking out my window watching the leaves bud and flowers bloom. It is Isaiah 61:11 - For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. The context of the scripture is God bringing hope to the people of Israel as he promises to restore their land. It certainly brought hope to me this month.