After months of baking pound cakes, scribbling over paperwork
and running around Birmingham our dossier is in process with the adoption
agency in Ethiopia and we are on the waiting list – thanks be to God!
So now that we are on the waiting list, here is how the rest
of this process will unfold. When our name moves to the front of the list, we
will be matched with a boy or girl who will be from birth to five years old. We
will be contacted and given a profile of the child. Once we accept the referral
for this child, Kameron and I will make plans to travel to Ethiopia within a
few weeks to meet our child in person and to initiate the paperwork in their
court system. We will stay for 6-8 days before returning home, leaving our
child in the care of foster parents (we expect it to be very difficult to leave
our new little boy or girl, even if for just awhile!) We
will then return within a 60-90 period to appear in court and to complete the
legal work, over a 4-6 day stay. At the end of that time we will return home with our
new child with us. While there will be a little paperwork to do in the weeks
after we return home, for the most part the adoption will be complete.
So now we wait. We expect the wait to be between 18-24
months for a referral, given the current pace of referrals. In the mean time we will continue to pray for them and to work toward our fundraising goals. We ask our friends and family to please keep our family and our child
to come in your prayers. We need patience and faith beyond our natural ability during this time of
waiting. Thank you all so very much for encouraging us, for generously
supporting us, and for lifting us before God in your prayers. We could not do
this alone.
One day, we will walk through the doors of an orphanage in Addis Ababa and
scoop our child up into our arms for the first time. It will be a joyful moment
as we get to touch them and see and hear them in person. And as they are physically
embraced by us for the first time, the true power of the
moment is that while they will only see and feel us with them, we will KNOW that a whole
army of friends and family has been giving, praying, encouraging – all so we
can bring them home.
We deeply desire to show God’s love
to one of His own by making him or her one of our own. Please pray for all five
us during this journey.
In God’s Grace,
Nathan, Kameron, J. Henry, Amelia
(and Baby #3!)
