Home Study Visit

We had our home visit part of our home study yesterday and it went smoothly. Our social worker was very nice and spent about 3 hours at the house talking to us and the kids. Next step is for Mark and I to each have an individual appt. with her in the next couple of weeks.

Belated Happy Birthday to B-Girl!

Today we received some updated information on W-boy and B-girl - medical profiles and new pictures. Come to find out that B-girl had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and now she is 7. Yeah! Happy Birthday sweetie!

I’m somewhat sad that we didn’t get to celebrate her birthday with her, but know that we will have many more. Hopefully we’ll have them in time to celebrate W-boy’s birthday when he turns 9 in July.

Their medical profiles look great and they are both in good health. So we get to sign the official form saying “Yes, we want them!” and send it back. Yeah!

There’s No Hiding Now

Well I won’t be able to get away with anything now. The government officially has my fingerprints on file. Mark and I went down to Immigration yesterday to do our “biometrics” (fancy word for fingerprints) for our I-600 form. This is the paperwork that lets us bring an orphan (or in this case 2) into the U.S.

We got there about 10 minutes before the doors opened and stood in the cold with about 20 other people. At 7:59 a guy came out and gave us a speech in his “I’m a government employee” voice about how we couldn’t have cell phones or any electronics or food or drink etc in and that if we were caught with any of the contraband items we would be escorted out and our application would be abandoned. Scary stuff!

So we all herded into the room and raced to fill out the additional application paper. Mark and I ended up being #6 and #7 to get our fingerprints done. The fingerprint process was pretty cool - all computerized so they just scanned everything - no messy ink! We were done and out by 8:30. Yippee!

Five days till our homestudy.

Awesome Song

I met a new friend online (adoption does that to you) and I was pursuing her blog and she had posted this awesome video by Brooke Fraser (who also sings in Hillsong United).

I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
her mothers voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine
there in her eyes what I don’t see with my own
rwanda

[CHORUS]
now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are

I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
and the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
Rwanda

[CHORUS]

[BRIGDE]
I will tell the world, I will tell them where I’ve been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine

[CHORUS]

I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine

Debt Free Adoption

For those of you that know us personally you know much of this story. For those that don’t, I must start by telling you a little bit about our family’s money philosophy. About 7 years ago my husband started listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio and bringing home tidbits of his advice. Dave Ramsey is a talk radio host and financial expert (and also a Christian) who believes in a debt-free lifestyle. His motto, or one of them, is “Live like no one else so later you can LIVE like no one else.” We attended one of his one-day events which led us to beginning his Financial Peace University class at our church about 6 years ago (still going strong).

We paid off all our debt except for our house within about 2 years - credit cards, student loans, cars (sold one of them). Then just a few months ago, in November ‘07 we reached our major goal of paying off our home. We are 100% debt free.

And then God led us to adoption, which is not an inexpensive endeavor. We have savings that will pay for part of it but we do not have all that we need. I began to say “Well, if we have to go into debt to do it, then we will and we’ll pay it off as quick as we can.”

Yet once again God used Dave Ramsey to speak incredible truth into our lives. Last week I was visiting a friend in Pittsburgh. It was late one evening and I was flipping channels when I discovered that the new Dave Ramsey television show was on the Fox Business Chanel. (We don’t get it at home.) I was all excited to see what it was about.

Dave was taking calls from different people. A man called in and explained that he felt God calling him to a career change that meant going back to school and thus, in this man’s eyes, incurring debt. I forget what his actual question was but I will never forget the words that came out of Dave’s mouth. It might not be verbatim but the gist of it was, “If you truly feel like God is calling you to this then I believe that you need to look at creative ways for you to finance your schooling. There is not ONE example in the Bible of God calling someone to do something and then using debt as a tool to accomplish it!”

I think my jaw actually dropped into my lap. How little faith I have had. Sure, I know that God will provide the means but I just assumed some type of loan would be part of that. How could I short change his power by thinking so small?

When I told Mark what I had heard he pretty much said “Well, I’ve been thinking the same thing but I was afraid you’d be upset if I told you.” And he’s probably right

So a debt-free adoption it is! I’m not sure how it will happen but I am totally stoked to see the amazing ways that God will help us earn/find the funds.

Things are Moving

Well I’ve spent the last week in Pittsburgh visiting my dear friend Kristen. While I was gone we got a couple pieces of good news.

1) We have our initial home study interview on January 30th. Our social worker will come to the house and spend 2 hours talking to us, the kids and looking at the home that W-boy and B-girl will come home to.

2) We received our appointment notice to go and get our “biometrics” done at Homeland Security. This is one of two pieces that we need in order to receive the coveted 171-H form (or Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition). The other thing they need is our certified homestudy.

So, it’s progress!

Facts about Ethiopia

• One in ten children die before their first birthday
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any other African country
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.

One More Hurdle Down

I’ve got one more major hurdle done - medical exams on me and the 3 2 (see, I’ve already lost track) kids. We all have to have one for the home study. Luckily Noah and Natalie just had well checks last month. I made my visit to the doc today and she was willing to fill out their forms based on that visit and get us all signed off. Then I had the one form for the dossier that needs to be notarized. Luckily we have Marge in the church office who is a notary and she met me at the doc’s office and got it notarized.

I don’t know why, but I was prepared for something to go wrong - seems like so many other people have had stuff go wrong with doctor’s. But the office staff was great and I was in and out of there in 25 minutes. Woo Hoo!

Now Mark just has to get in to his doc. Hint, hint honey!

Why Ethiopia?

Several people have asked what led us to Ethiopia and while there is no simple answer, I can tell you a lot of the reasons.

1. I have always been drawn to Africa (except for the typical childhood prayers of “please don’t make me be a missionary in Africa” - which, of course, now seem silly)
2. There are very few countries in Africa that are open to adoption by Americans. Ghana is one that we briefly looked into. There are a couple of others but they require longer trips/stays (or two trips) to pick up the kids that we didn’t feel were feasible with our other kids.
3. We were really interested in adopting from Zambia who opened adoptions to the US some time back. But then it seemed that their gov’t was not really ready. Several families traveled to Zambia last summer to pick up children but then because of difficulties came home without their kids. I cannot imagine their heartbreak.
4. I read the book There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Her Country’s Children. It’s about an Ethiopian woman who opens her home to AIDS orphans. The book not only told her story but also gave a very detailed history of the AIDS and orphan crisis in Ethiopia. I highly recommend it to anyone considering adoption.
5. Ethiopia is one of the less expensive countries to adopt from. It is still quite an expense but there are some countries that are double.

With all that said and done the thing that finally made us decide to adopt from Ethiopia was W-boy and B-girl. At the time that we found them, we were still unsettled, thinking about waiting to see what happened in Zambia, and in no particular hurry (okay, a little hurry :-).

But God sealed the deal for us and Ethiopia it is.

The Differences

I found this little chart on the Wilson family blog (another family from our agency) and I thought it was a great snapshot of how fortunate we are here in America.

Country comparison

	Ethiopia	USA
Average Annual Income	$110	$41,400
Life Expectancy	48 years	78 years
Access to Safe Water	22%	100%
Adequate Sanitation	6%	100%
Under 5 Mortality Rate	166 deaths/1000 live births	8 deaths/1000 live births