An Update

The birth of beautiful Malcolm has kind of put me behind on updating our adoption blog! We are still moving slowly forward, getting little things in order so that when the adoption moves quickly again we are ready.

My etsy shop has been helping to fund our adoption since December 2010. To date we have made $709 towards our adoption expenses! I don't have a lot of inventory in there right now and need to get busy creating things so we can move closer to our goal of bringing our daughter home!

Michael and I have been taking some required adoption and parenting classes. These classes are all on-line and through an organization called Adoption Learning Partners. The first class we took was called Conspicuous Families. It was about bringing a child of another race into the home and dealing with reactions from friends, families, and strangers. It was a really interesting course, and Michael and I both hope and pray we won't have to deal with some of the scenarios presented in the course.

Our goal for the remainder of the summer is to get some more paperwork in and have expired paperwork updated. Our homestudy needs to reflect Malcolm, and we have been assigned a new social worker named Rita. As always, your prayers are most welcome and we will update the blog again soon!

Paperwork Nightmare

Everyone is always wondering how our adoption is coming. My answer is usually the same: slow. Not only are we constantly discouraged by the financial aspect of funding the process, but the paperwork involved is beginning to resemble a monster that is consumming our house. On top of fundraising and paperwork, we also have four children to raise and homeschool, as well as regular life to live.

I have begun to dread opening emails from the adoption agency. They usually read something like this: "Dear Jessica, Please find attached a new form required by the Ethiopian government. Please fill out the form, notarize it, have it state certified, supply new fingerprints, and return it to me with a money order for $670." Yikes. Not only is that a fee we weren't anticipating, but that sort of process can easily take us six months. And fingerprints cost $80 a person.

Through all this we know that God has a plan for our family. He is guiding this adoption and it will work out on His time, not ours.

The Wait and See Method

Now that we have a written homestudy report (only 3 months late and very poorly written), we have decided to see if we can finance the Ethiopian adoption through adoption grants. And donations are still arriving from our envelope campaign. We returned home from the Pacific Northwest to find an annoymous donation of $100 awaiting us!

So for now we are going to continue to pursue the international adoption, despite the overwhelming cost and emotional labor it requires. Sometimes I feel I am on a teeter-totter with this adoption.

Uncertain Future

Mike and I were sad to learn yesterday that they did indeed pass new laws concerning adoptions from Ethiopia. They now require both parents to travel to Ethiopia two times to complete the adoption. In some circumstances (which they have not yet outlined), an escort with power of attorney may be able to take the place of one of the parents.

Even with the escort, one of us would have to go to Africa and we would be paying for two tickets, two times. A quick look at Delta on random dates shows the price to be $1,956 per ticket. Times that by four and you can easily see the new financial burden placed on my family.

We are undecided about what steps to take next. Other programs offer lighter travel requirements, but with four children already in the home it is hard for our family to qualify for those programs.

I just received an message that international adoption is not for sissies. Isn't that the truth! I wouldn't wish this emotional turmoil on my worst enemy.

Moving Slowly

Things are moving pretty slowly around here lately. The donations continue to arrive, and we are so grateful and thankful to all who have contributed to our adoption. We have a second meeting with the social worker scheduled and then hopefully we will have the homestudy completed. In the meantime we are enjoying this little burst of spring and hoping the snow will hold off until winter arrives again.

Ugggg!

One thing is for certain about international adoption: NOTHING IS FOR CERTAIN!

We were surprised to learn that adoption laws for Ethiopia are changing and we may not make the cut-off before the new laws are passed, if they are passed. Meaning that both Michael and I might have to appear in court in Ethiopia, and that we might have to do that twice. As you can imagine, this would cause a HUGE strain on our family- both financially and emotionally.

So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers while we hope that our daughter is brought safely home to us.

Homestudy

Our Homestudy is officially scheduled and as I sit here fending off a mini-panic attack I imagine the various impressions the social worker will have while touring our home. Piles of shoes missing mates clutter our entry room, house plants in several stages of death crowd every windowsill, the guest room looks like a children's consignment store threw up into it.

I have known this was coming for several months, but it was always in the future. My most common expression lately has been, "Before the social worker comes we should..." Well, I guess the future is now and I have some serious junk hiding to do!