Monthly Wait-List Update

Hey.....it seems I'm getting pretty good at this.

Note my exact quote from the last post:

"It's almost that time again....the beginning of the month and a new wait list number.  I'm predicting we move up three spots this month."


And.


We are.

We moved up three spots in the month of July.  There were actually 4 children placed with families from our agency (one was a set of twins) in July....that's 4 children who are orphans no more.  Praise God!


We would love to know how many of the families (#1 - #13) are actually waiting for children in our same age/gender category.  Our agency has a Facebook page but not all families are a part of it so we can't even scope it out that way.  : )  Believe me, the families that are on the page, have tried their (our) best to narrow it down.  More work on that patience of mine.  


In some ways, it seems just yesterday that we were hoping to reach the teens and now it feels like single digits are just around the corner.  Keep praying, friends (and remind me of my positive attitude later in the month when I begin to whine).

While We Wait

In my last post (FAQ's), I touched on the fact that courts in Ethiopia close for a period of time.  Generally, the courts close from mid-August to mid-October in response to the rainy season which makes daily life in Ethiopia difficult to manage...to the point of closing down government offices, etc.

Waiting families like mine begin to dread the rainy season closings as they draw more near because, obviously, you're about to be GUARANTEED an additional two month wait (two months where, without a doubt, nothing's really going to happen in your case).  Now....the good news is that we can still get a referral during this time.  On the other hand, the bad news is that we can still get a referral during this time.  Funny girl, I am.  Getting a referral, OF COURSE, is always good news; however, this wait that we are experiencing, I anticipate, becomes even harder once we've seen that face.  But, you know what?  If given a choice, we don't want to wait to see that face....we'll take it as it comes.

Anyway, I share all of that to say that the closing dates were recently announced and this year, the courts are closing from August 22nd to October 1st.  This is much shorter than previous closings, which is very encouraging.  We started this thing with hopes of bringing home our daughter by late Summer/early Fall (if this were Twitter, I'd add something like #clueless or #dreamers); now, we hope upon hope that she celebrates Christmas at home.

In the meantime.....

•  The furniture that we ordered for her room arrived.  We still need to buy mattresses but it appears we have some time.  I haven't begun any decorating and don't plan to do so until we've seen her face and know who we are decorating for.  
• We had a custom-type closet system installed to make better use of the closet space.
• We registered, today, to attend the Empowered To Connect conference which is being held in our area in September.  This conference is said to be a great resource for adoptive and foster parents.  We are looking forward to it.
• Some sweet friends touched my heart by the simple gesture of making a point to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant as a means of connecting with and learning more about the culture of our girl. 
• It's almost that time again....the beginning of the month and a new wait list number.  I'm predicting we move up three spots this month.  What do you think? 

And.....

• Not adoption related....we have had a great Summer with all four of us back under the same roof.  I often look at my boys and marvel at how much they've grown and matured in the last year.  Jordan had a great first year at college and soon he will return.  Braeden will start to High School in less than two weeks.  So cliche' but, really, where does the time go?

Frequently Asked Questions

So, we have officially been waiting at this point for 6 months and, often, I'm asked questions about the process that I thought I'd take some time to explain.

You're STILL waiting?


Yes, we are still waiting.  We began our paperwork and educational requirements in September of 2011.  It ("it" being our dossier...the complete collection of paperwork required) made the long trek to Ethiopia and was received there in January of 2012.  Upon it's arrival, we were placed on our agency's wait list at number 29.


How much longer will it be?


I wish that I knew.  We are currently #17 on our agency's wait list.  The majority of the families ahead of us are waiting for an infant or younger toddler (most are approved/requesting 0-2) so we hopefully won't ever be #1; however, it isn't as easy as it seems it should be.  Our agency only has access to certain children from certain orphanages.  Our call could come tomorrow......or in 6 more months.  (Lord, PLEASE don't let it be 6 more months.)


What exactly are you waiting for?


Well, for now, we are waiting for a referral.


What's a referral?


A referral is the actual matching of a specific child to our family.  When that time comes, we will receive a call from our agency's director with basic information, as well as an email with a picture and any history and medical information that is available on her.  


I keep anticipating how this will happen and where we will all be when that call comes.  I have told Jeff that I don't want to see our child's face for the first time apart from one another.  I figured we were both present the first time we saw our boys; we should be together when we see our girl too.


Jeff and I have contracted with the Vanderbilt International Adoption Clinic and, once we receive our referral information, we will forward it to the clinic for their review.  They will report back to us within 24 hours (with any red flags that they see based upon the medical history provided).  This clinic will be responsible for our daughter's care when she first arrives home; they are familiar with internationally adopted children and their illnesses, parasites, tendencies, etc. and also have someone in their clinic that can speak her language (which helps to make the transition more tolerable).  She will eventually transition from there to our regular pediatrician.


Are you picking out the child that you want?


We are not.  Our dossier clearly outlines the age and  gender of the child that we have requested and been approved for.....a 3-5 year old girl.  There is always a possibility that we could go slightly younger or slightly older than that parameter (with an amendment to our home study) but the child that we are referred should fall into that range.


What will happen after you receive your referral?


We'll begin waiting.....again.  Once we have accepted a referral, paperwork will be filed with the Ethiopian courts for the adoption to take place.  We will wait for a court date to be granted which, hopefully, will be 4-6 weeks after the referral is accepted.  Ethiopian courts close for a period of time in August and September for the rainy season so, IF we were to get a referral before then (not likely) or, for that matter, during the rainy season closing, the wait for a court date could/would be longer.


Are your boys going to Ethiopia with you?


We plan for our entire family to go on one of the two trips.  We had really hoped that one of the trips would occur during the summer months while they were out of school but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  Though we hate for them to miss school, this is one of those once in a lifetime experiences and we definitely want them to experience their sister's country, her culture and meet her in person as soon as possible.  Not sure which of the two trips they will take....if either were to fall during a time that they were out of school, that one would be the obvious choice.  If not, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.


Two trips?


Yes, we will go first for court and, at that time, she will become our daughter; however, she will need a visa to be able to travel.  We will return home and, yes...you guessed it...WAIT for her visa to be issued by the US Embassy.  We will return to bring her home once that step is completed.


Those are the main topics of discussion that seem to be coming up.  The process is tedious and can be confusing; I am happy to help iron out some details for any of you who wonder what in the world is going on.

If you have any other questions that I haven't thought of, feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll be glad to answer (if I can).

Monthly Wait-List Update

No flowy words;

just a much anticipated

monthly update from our agency.

We are currently number 17.

We took three giant steps forward

which is a great thing.

I'm not going to lie;

though we are SO excited

for such forward movement,

we thought that we would be

much further along at

this point in our 

adoption journey.

Referrals have picked up

greatly over the last couple of weeks; 

our agency actually referred

FIVE children to their

forever families recently.

Please continue

to pray for God's perfect

will (and timing) for

our family.  

We are ready.

Anticipation

.....okay, so I know that just seeing that title has some of you singing (or at least humming) that old Carly Simon tune; not that I'm old enough to know any Carly Simon songs....

But....

It's that time of the month when we begin to look forward expectantly to our monthly wait list updates (which we generally receive the first week of each month).  The past week or so has been exciting as we've heard of at least a couple of referrals in our agency.  We should make a grand entrance into the TEENS on this month's wait list (we are currently number 20;).

Since last month's update, Jeff and Jordan both received all of the necessary travel vaccinations (Braeden and I were up to date), Jeff graciously moved his gun safe out of what will be "little girl's" (we sometimes just refer to her as "LG") room and what has been the Guest Room has started to undergo a transformation (if you count removing the bed and piling a lot of "stuff" in the floor a transformation.....it always gets worse before it gets better, right?).  In addition, I (Kelley) completed my Beginner's Sewing Class and, every now and then, we talk about little girl names....nothing solid yet; we're gonna need a face first.  : )

See you next week (unless, of course, we get "the call"...wouldn't that be something?).

$4 For 4

Just about a year ago, Kim and I were busy packing for the trip of a lifetime.  Prior to the trip, we'd never met but, as it turns out, we spent ten days together that I can promise you were life changing for each of us (and our families).

Kim and her family have committed to and almost completed the process of adopting FOUR children.  They have worked hard and prayed hard as they raised the funds to give these four children their forever family.  They are now in the home stretch......could you, would you help to bring them home?

All they ask is that you give $4 for their 4.  You can't even buy your favorite Starbucks drink for $4.

So....head on over here and give $4 for 4 sweet faces that you'll see on the Charity Project site.  Note the before they had a family faces and the after they had a family faces.  It rocks my world.

To sweeten the deal a bit, once you make your donation, comment back here and I will enter you in a drawing for one of our adoption tees.

Thanks so much!

While We Wait

"I love decorating my home and helping others do the same.  I dream of sewing magnificent window treatments and beautiful smocked dresses for my nieces, but the truth is that I can't hem a pair of pants."


The above is a snippet of the "about me" portion of my original blog (www.mytwosons-kelley.blogspot.com).

I have always been an idea person.  I love beautiful things and I can visualize the way that things could, should or would look....but I've often struggled in the execution of those things.

I have ALWAYS loved children's clothes.  I even enjoyed dressing my boys (in those years before they started having an opinion and I always got my way:) which, if you have boys you know, isn't always a lot of fun (just because boys' fashions are so much more limited than girls).  Anyway, when I was pregnant with Jordan (our oldest....that would be, um, 19 years ago), I vowed that I was going to learn to sew.  But I never did. I was given a sewing machine back then AND I took a smocking class.  However, that little smocked bishop never became anything because I never learned to sew.  I kept that sewing machine for many years but could never even get the darn thing threaded.  Eventually, I traded it out for some custom window treatments....that someone else made.

When my nieces came along, once again, I wished that I could sew.  I could wander around a fabric store forever and always saw the sweetest things that I wished I could make.  Only now, guess what?  No sewing machine.

So....all these years later and the prospect of dressing a little girl stirred my heart again to learn to sew; so, for Mother's Day I asked for a sewing machine.  And my sweet husband, though he doubted that this idea would ever come to fruition, delivered.

One of the things that I've been seeing in the little girl fashion world are pillowcase-style dresses (not made from actual pillowcases, although I plan to try some of those as well) and I decided that this would be a good thing to begin learning with.  I purchased an inexpensive downloadable PDF tutorial which included templates for arm hole cutouts and went to town.  I'm certain I could have figured it out without purchasing this tutorial but it really has been very helpful (with dimensions for all sizes, from 12 months - 8 ); and it included a second PDF tutorial booklet for making Peasant style dresses as well (which I haven't tried.....yet).

First Attempt:

Second Attempt (planning to add a monogram):

Third Attempt:

Fourth Attempt:

Okay...so, after four, it's getting a little comical so, in addition, I am taking a beginner's sewing class at a local fabric/sewing shop (so that her wardrobe isn't exclusively pillowcase dresses:).  I had my first class yesterday and am so excited about all that I hope to learn there.  In the class, we are making a reversible A-line style child's dress/jumper.  We are also learning to applique.

So, this is one of the ways that I'm spending my "while we wait" time....and, so far, it's been a lot of fun.