We Are Family

Today was the court date for Zinash's re-adoption. The adoption process for international children includes two steps, and the first (Ethiopian court recognition) was completed in last year before we headed over to pick her up.

Interestingly enough, we had the same judge as when this process was finished for Mihret... and he was so kind and affirming to both girls and to us.


So now, we're official. On the way out of the courthouse, Carrie told Zinash "Well, now you're stuck with us". She giggled, but I'm pretty sure she looked at me out of the corner of her eye and muttered "Rats".

We celebrated the way we always do; going to the LA Zoo in the rain. You have your traditions, we have ours.

It's an end and a beginning... and we're so lucky to be here.

For Unto Us...

A(nother) daughter is given.


It is my privilege to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Zinash. We found out today that our case passed court, and that we are legally her parents (in the eyes of the Ethiopian government). Just think, in one more day, and it would have corresponded with a sacred family holiday.

Next steps, as you may remember from our process with Mihret, are even more waiting. We now get assigned a date at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, and then begin working on travel plans from one side of the world to the other.

Already rockin' tie dye

Once in country, we’ll need to appear before the Embassy to file paperwork for her passport, then hang around for a couple of days until the passport is ready, then back on the plane for the return journey.

After being in the US for six months, we are then able to apply for adoption through the US government. Ah yes, bureaucracy.

We have no idea when our embassy date will be and when we will travel; we’ve been told to expect anywhere between six and eight weeks. Until then, we have a lot of preparation to do at home.

Please keep the four of us in your prayers as we celebrate both the holiday season and this exciting news.

Waiting

We are still waiting for news from Ethiopia regarding our adoption of Boo #2. We haven't heard anything since the email telling of our unsuccessful first court date. I find at times like this that I really struggle to relax and trust God with the outcome. It's silly, really, because there is absolutely NOTHING I can do to speed the process along, and even if there were, worrying and checking my email incessantly would not make things happen any faster. It's also silly because I am confident that God put Boo #2 on our hearts and I know that He is the One who is bringing our family together. I am trying to focus on preparing for Boo #2 instead of focusing on how hard it is to wait. Some days I do that really well; others, well...not so much. In any case, I am thankful that we serve a God who does not get stressed out by missing letters and court delays.

The last few days God has been reminding me that just as He used the delays in Mihret's adoption to prepare Chuck and me to be her parents, He is also using this current process to prepare each one of us (Chuck, me, Mihret, and Boo #2) to become a family. Not only that, but He is using this process - delays and all - to prepare our community to receive Boo #2 with great joy.

When we were waiting for Mihret, another mom-to-be, whose first child was also at Layla House with Mihret, wrote to me about her experience with "the wait." What she said meant a lot to me at the time and I have remembered it these past 2+ years:

Some days it seems easier and some days it is much more difficult. I have read a very good book which was helpful. It is called: Carried Safely Home. The author, who is a friend of mine, talks about the hidden blessings in the adoption process. One thing I really liked is that she talks about waiting as a time where the Lord increases our capacity for love in our hearts- like a stream that turns into a river. The capacity for loves grows deeper and wider while we wait giving us a true spirit of adoption.

That was helpful for me- to think of this waiting as a time for my heart to grow even more for my son."

Katie, adoptive mom, 9/4/07

And so we wait and our love for Boo#2 grows bigger and bigger. We wait and our trust in our great and loving God grows bigger and bigger. We wait and remember that God is indeed good.

Psalm 27:13-14

¹³ I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Fab four

Nope, not another add for the Beatles special additions, but a long overdue announcement that

We've added another member to our family.

Before you get all weepy and stuff, mom, let me give you the details.

We'd been talking, as regular readers know, about adopting again for a while. Finally, after a lot of prayer, we decided to pursue adopting a girl that we have been sponsoring since we begun our process of bringing Mihret home.

Her name is (Well, we can't publish it here. Whoops.), and she is currently nine years old. I've got photos, but am prohibited from posting them until our process is formalized. Drop me an email if you want to meet the latest member of our merry band.

She has been told that we are in process of becoming her forever family, and has seen pictures of her mama, dada, and sister. Once she stopped laughing at how ridiculous her dada looked, she seemed (from the photos we have) very excited about the situation.

Ah yes, the process. If you'll recall, with Mihret we were matched in July and had to wait until she cleared court in Ethiopia. Her date came before the court shutdown for the Ethiopian New Year, and we were able to go and bring her home in November.

With (Boo number 2), we didn't make the court closure, so the process will be longer. We're looking at around December or January as our travel dates, but even that might be up in the air. In addition, as an older child the process in country may be more drawn out- with Mihret we were there for a week, but with (Boo number 2) it may mean extended time in Ethiopia for all of us. And yes, all three of us will go over, and four will come back.

Mihret is super excited about her big sister, and prays for her every night. Carrie is already creating a good environment for her- we'll need to home school for a while to get her caught up; luckily her mama is an educational resources specialist.

And me? Well, I'm just praying that she'll be OK when she gets here, and that we'll have the wisdom to raise her to be the woman God calls her to be. And that she sleeps through the night (unlike a certain other Boo I know).

Oh, and I've started looking at shotguns- I was going to do this anyway, but she'll be dating earlier than I had on my time line.

Keep us in your prayers.