How so quick?

Some may be wondering how we got a referral so quick? Are they legitimately orphans? Are they buying orphans? Those are legitimate questions. Often times if you are with an agency that gives quick referrals that can mean that the agency is doing some immoral things. Many people are waiting years for a referral from Ethiopia... and we waited 3 weeks. The original agency we were with (for like 2 days) we found out some scary things & they pretty much were buying & selling children. Thankfully an amazing women contacted me with some important information on that agency the same day we sent out our application fee & we were able to get it back in time without losing any money or getting in deep with this immoral agency. But then we found our amazing agency West Sands Adoptions who we love! They are a very moral agency & well respected in Ethiopia. They are a smaller agency (though growing very quickly) so still have a shorter wait time than some agencies but again that is growing increasing the wait time. Many people I believe saw that they had a shorter wait time & joined their agency expanding the waiting list very quickly in the last 6 months.

Anyways, back to our referral. Right now I believe our agency has a 12-18 month wait time for a healthy referral. For an HIV referral they are predicting 6-9 months. They had just told us 4-8 months for our referral since we were open to 1 or 2 children with HIV up to 4 years old. So we weren't expecting to hear anything until this summer or fall. So how did we get a referral in 3 weeks? Well we were 104 on the healthy list & 11 on the HIV list. Apparently no one else on the HIV list was open to siblings (except for 1 family requesting 2 boys) so even though we were last on the list we were the only ones that fit this referral so it went to us. It is possible that they contacted others on the list above us to confirm they weren't open to 2 before contacting us but I don't know. Yes our girls were orphans. They didn't traffic them or buy them. They were abandoned at 5 days old. They were taken to the hospital that same day & then taken to our agency's transition home once they were released from the hospital a few weeks later.

This was all a HUGE surprise to us but God knew exactly what he was doing! I believe he was waiting for us to let go of this adoption & what we “wanted” & be open to what he wanted. Remember, we were originally requesting a healthy infant, then an infant with HIV & then opened up to any age up to 4 years old. It was just a week or 2 after we opened up that we got THE CALL. We ended up with TWO infants. He just wanted us to LET GO & allow him to take control. I have NO doubt that this was what he wanted. How else could we raise over $10,000 in 4 days??? If this wasn't God's plan I don't believe that would have been possible.

Here's a sneak peak of our little girls!  We can't show full pictures until we pass court in 2-3 months.

 

Cut & Color Fundraiser

For those local folks, we have a friend offering a great deal on a cut & color at her salon.    

Purchase a $75 gift card now for a cut & color from Lisa Bentley from Salon Lofts to use in the next 3 months. 1/2 of the profit will go to us for our adoption. This is a great deal as it normally costs $115-130. Comment on here, send me a Facebook message or email so I can keep track & you can send her a message on Facebook to purchase.  If you're not on Facebook you can email me at terribeth07@earthlink.net & I will assist in arranging the purchase.  She is located at 10002 Montgomery Rd Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. You can also visit her Facebook fan page at Salon Bentley at Salon Lofts.

This deal is on sale through Wednesday March 27th so don't delay in ordering yours!  It is good for 3 months! 

God is doing AMAZING things this week & IS providing everything we need to bring these precious girls into our family forever!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has assisted by donating, sharing & praying for funds!  We love you all!

It's a Girl!!! (x2)

We are excited to announce that we received & accepted a referral for twin girls that are 2 months old! We received a surprising call on Monday night!!!

So back up a little. Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia on February 25^th & we were officially added to the list at that time. We were #11 on the HIV waiting list. We were originally told 6-9 months for a referral. We were originally requesting a child 0-12 months either gender & open to a sibling of the opposite gender up to 3 years old. Then a week or 2 ago we decided we should open our parameters to 1 or 2 children 0-4 years old of either gender or 1 of each if there were 2. We felt God wanted us to be more open. Our agency then told us the expected 4-8 months for a referral.

Last week we received a $6,000 grant from Show Hope for our adoption. I was so excited about this & had in the back of my mind that maybe we got it because something was coming sooner! I tried to tell my self to stop thinking that because it was so early. It stayed in my mind for several days. Monday all day I kept feeling like something was coming but again tried to talk myself out of getting my hopes up. I had butterflies in my stomach & was nervous for some reason.

Then Monday night at 7:01pm I received a call from a long distance # I didn't recognize. I don't always answer the phone if I don't know the number but I did. I don't fully remember the conversation but I remember our caseworker Koni was on the phone & said it was Koni. I had never actually spoken to her only emailed her so didn't know how her name was pronounced. I thought it was Cone-E but it's pronounced like Connie so it threw me off. She said she was with West Sands. I started getting so nervous because I didn't know any other reason she would call me! She said she had Sheila on the phone who is the director. They started talking to me about our paperwork just being done & our criteria. They asked about how much money we had & when we would be ready for a referral. I told her how much we had but that we would find the money if it came before. She then told me she wanted to tell me about twin girls that were 2 months old. She just told me a little bit of information on them but not much. She said there was no obligation but just wanted to offer us the referral. Well, Jeremy wasn't home at the time. He was guest speaking at a broadcasting school at that time. I told her I would try to get a hold of him & get back with her before she sent any pictures. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much or promise anything without talking to him. I was shaking like crazy. My face was blood red. The whole time we were on the phone Jack was screaming because he wanted his pancake that took 10 seconds in the microwave, then wanted a fruit cup, then wanted another. I was shoving things in his face to keep him quiet so I could hear the phone! As soon as I got off the phone I sent him a text to call me AS SOON as he got done! I waited for what seemed like an eternity but was only like 20-30 minutes. Then he called me. I told him the news & asked what he thought. He said let's go for it. He was going to be home in 15-20 minutes. I wanted to wait to call Sheila back to send us pictures until he got home because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to wait to look at them if they arrived. As soon as we got home I called her & she gave me a little more information on them now that she knew we were interested. Then she sent us their pictures & file. We set up the laptop on the table & set up the video camera to capture the moment. Jack sat on my lap so we could all look together. Jeremy pulled up the email & we saw our precious beautiful baby girls for the 1^st time. I thought I would cry but I was still in such shock & shaking! Jack pointed & we had him blow them kisses. After we put him to bed we made calls to family to let them know the amazing news! Everyone was also in shock & so excited. I wish we could post their pictures but until we pass court we are not allowed to post them publicly on the internet. We can however show them to you individually and are more than happy to show them off! They are beautiful & tiny! They are preemies so they're still small but appear to be doing very well now!

The problem... we needed to raise another $10,450 within 10 days to accept our referral! Seems impossible right??? Well God had other plans! We raised $8849 in 24 hours!!!! This clearly showed this WAS God's plan & he WAS providing the money! I was just blown away by the support from friends, family & strangers! As of this moment we have raised $9354.55!

So what now? Once we complete raising this portion of fees we will be submitted to court. We will travel to meet our daughters for the first time in about 3 months. At that time we will attend court where they will hopefully be pronounced “ours” legally! We will need about another $5,000 before we travel for this trip. Most people find out they are traveling within days or hours of when they need to hop on a plane. Last week several people found out their court date like 3 weeks ahead of time but from what I've seen that is extremely unusual. The norm seems to be 2-3 days! That is from the time we get the call to when we hop on the plane! We will have to contact our travel agent immediately to arrange airfare! We will be there about a week & unfortunately return to the U.S. WITHOUT THEM! According to Ethiopian Government we are their parents but the US Embassy doesn't recognize that & won't allow them in the US yet. They will do their own investigation, medical clearance, etc. This process takes about 2-4 months. Then we will receive another call that they have been cleared & come home! We will then return & bring them home forever! We will need about another $5000 for that trip. So even after we raise this current money we are still in need of $10,000+ but have no doubt that God will provide that as well!

For now we are still requesting donations & lots of prayers! We have a Facebook-a-thon going on requesting people to spread the word to all of their friends & family to give just $5 or $10. We are still selling sheets! (If you haven't checked these out, they really are amazing! I'm not just saying that to get you to buy them) We are trying out a scarf fundraiser. We have someone offering a great deal on a cut & color gift certificate & sharing profit with us. We have had many other ideas from people for fundraisers!

Ok, I think I've made you read enough for now! Thank you all for your love & support for our family! We can never show how truly grateful we are!

Scarf Fundraiser

We are testing out a new fundraiser selling these scarves.  $8 each (plus shipping if not local).  I have a limited amount of these at this time but may be able to get more of certain styles if there is interest. 

GRANT!!!

So excited to announce that we received a $6,000 Grant Award from Show Hope!  I wasn't expecting to hear if we received it or not until at least April 1st so this is a big surprise & BIG award!  This shows me that we ARE doing what GOD has planned & that he is definitely in this adoption!  I knew this already but this proves it!  I have just been so excited all afternoon since I found this out!

I counted up what we have so far for our referral & we have $7,190 (once we get all the money for current sheet sales in) to use towards our referral fee(s) & other fees due at that time. 

So what do we still need?  When we receive THE CALL stating that we have received a referral we have 1-2 weeks to pay these fees.  If we receive a referral of 1 child we will owe $10,450 & if we have 2 siblings we will owe $16,700.  That means that we STILL need $3,260 for 1 child or $9,510 for 2. 

To break that down in sheets sales, we only need to sell 181 more sheets to have enough money for 1 child.  That seems like a lot but it's really not.  We CAN do it but need HELP!  I know that all of you can't buy sheets & we completely understand but you CAN help us sell!

I am just so excited & thankful for God in providing this $6,000 today through Show Hope!

God's Breaking Our Hearts... More!

Well, God's been breaking our hearts more lately. (in a good way) God has been speaking to us about our parameters we were “requesting” in a child. Our home study had approved us for up to 2 children 0-4 years old. When we first started the process we wanted a girl 0-6 months old & healthy. Then as we went on we felt God leading us to open up to the possibility of a “minor” special need & up to 12 months. Then as we were going through our home study we started looking into adopting a child with HIV. We were also considering the option of a twin or sibling up to 3. When we completed our home study, this was pretty much our decision was one child 0-12 months old boy or girl & were open to a twin or sibling 0-3 years old one or both with HIV. We knew that God ONLY wanted us to adopt a child with HIV & not a health child (unless they were a sibling). God really broke my heart for these children suffering this awful disease. There is NOT anything wrong with adopting a healthy child but we knew that was not God's calling for our family. Our motivation for adopting was not just to add another child to our family because we could do that the old fashion way if we wanted to. God was calling us to give a home to a child who needed a home. I constantly have the song “Kings & Queens” from Audio Adrenaline in my head. (check out a previous blog post for this video, it's awesome & so powerful) One of the lyrics in the song is “If not us, who will be like Jesus To the least of these, If not us tell me who will be like Jesus Like Jesus to the least of these.” This is playing in my head quite often. God kept telling me that he wanted more. He kept telling me we were too closed in our parameters. I felt as though we were saying that if we were to get a 3 year old sibling then they weren't as important or a priority as the baby. That we really wanted a baby but if we had to take a 3 year old also then we would. Now I know that's not the case & there would be nothing wrong with us wanting a baby, but again this is not what God wanted for US. This had been weighing on my heart & I brought it up to Jeremy the other day. I said that I felt as though we needed to open it up to a child or 2 siblings 0-4 years old. Thankfully he was in full agreement. We have officially notified our agency of this change.

With this change it could change our timeline which is both a positive & negative. Our agency has estimated 4-8 months for a referral. Although, there's a chance it could be much sooner if there would be a child or siblings that don't meet the parameters of the families above us on the list. We don't know everyone who's on the HIV list but based on those we know, for instance if there would be boy & girl 4 year old twins, there's no one we know of requesting this. It's really hard to know for sure how long it will be as they could receive several HIV+ referrals all together or could go months with none. With this possible earlier referral comes a LOT of money needed quickly. This is one thing I am worried about. If we received a call tomorrow we would not have the money to accept it. I am working hard to TRUST GOD on this! He has planned this whole adoption out long ago & we believe he will provide when the time is right.

We appreciate EVERYONE'S prayers & support through this adoption & ask you to continue praying for our family & our child(ren) who are far far away. Pray that God will watch over them when we can't be there to take care of them. Pray that they are receiving the medical care that they need to keep their HIV under control. Pray for those that are caring for them now whether it be their birth family or an orphanage.

Thank you!

1st Waiting List #

Today we received our FIRST waiting list # & we are officially #11 on the HIV Waiting List!  I am trying to plan on waiting until this Fall for a referral although we never know what God will do.  It could be MUCH sooner than that or MUCH later!  The families above us are requesting a variation of ages, genders & #s of children so it's hard to say when it will be our turn but GOD knows.  I am trying not to analyze it too much & worry but it's HARD not to!  I just want to see our child(ren) & start the process of bringing them home.  I just have to trust in God's perfect plan!  And in the mean time I need to raise, raise, raise money to do so!

So I'll leave you with this # to pray for!  Pray for the 10 children above us & for our child(ren) that are over there right now!  Keep them safe & healthy!  Pray they are getting the proper medication & care for their HIV!  Pray that they know they are loved by someone & that they are not Yucky!  (many, or maybe all, are told that they are which breaks my heart because they are not)