December numbers

I haven't been blogging much at all b/c my blog always locks up. It seems silly to spend lots of time on it if nobody can read it. Our December numbers are: 53 for a girl and 32 for a boy. Even though the boy numbers are so much smaller, they are certainly moving WAY slower.

November numbers

LOTS of movement this month. Yippee!! I do expect things to slow down as many families need to go through their court process. Lots for the courts to catch up on after being closed for 2 months. Hoping the referrals keep coming. Fun and exciting to see so many kids being matched with their forever families! :)

Correction

There was a mistake in the numbers from our agency. A mistake in our favor. :) Our October numbers are 66 for girl and 44 for boy.

October numbers!

We are at number 68 for a girl and number 46 for a boy. Glad to see some movement. :) Also was told that the current wait time is 10 months. Of course that can always change, but that sounds so much nicer than 12-18 months. :)

What's going on in the construction world?

I haven't updated in a long time. Not much to report. Soon we will have our October numbers and there has been some movement. :) Yesterday was a good day in our construction world. The ceiling has been sheet rocked and the insulation has been blown in. Boy am I learning a lot. It looked like a gigantic Build-a-Bear workshop in our yard over the weekend. I got the windows primed. The siding is pre-primed so we won't worry about painting until next summer. Jason needs to put in some nails on the outside and then it will be 100% ready for winter. It is fun to see progress. It is hard to get stuff done with Jason being gone so much, but it is coming along.

September numbers

Since we are adding a bedroom onto our house, I thought it was fitting to use some of the tools that are lying around to "construct" our numbers for September. We are 50 for a boy and 76 for a girl. Not much movement with the courts being closed. We are thankful that we are at the top end with not much movement. How hard it must be for those in the single digits to not see much movement. Hopefully soon there will be lots of referrals.

Blogging trouble

I have had lots of trouble with my blog locking up. I'm not sure why now it gets to cranky at me. Just realize this if you look at it and it doesn't seem right and might not be as up to date as I'd like to it be.

Some information about our orphanage

The following entry was posted on a friend of ours blog. I asked her permission to copy it onto our blog. I think it is very interesting and believe you will too. Thanks, Sarah for sharing with my blog followers. :)

The government orphanange that our child will likely come from is called Bethzatha.Children remain in legal custody of Bethzatha until they pass court BUT because Bethzatha has a close relationship with Hannah's Hope and approves of its staff and conditions, it allows Hannah's Hope to assist in caring for children BEFORE they are placed with families. This is H.U.G.E. It means that these kiddos get more personalized and individualized care MUCH sooner.

Other agencies do not take into care to assist an orphanage while court is pending. It may be that other agencies do not have the facilities to do so, or it may be that they do not have the same close relationship with the orphanages that they work with. The latter may be the case because other agencies work with *many* orphanages, matching children with families regardless of where the child is being cared for, while AGCI (our agency) only works with Bethzatha and only refers children after they are at Hannah's Hope.

And this is also a factor as to why the referral time for AGCI is a bit slower than other agencies. And while slower isn't easier-we would still prefer a quality living situation---physically and psychologically.

I have seen some pictures of Hannah's Hope. Wow..I'm impressed!! It is so fun and bright! Very exciting to see that it isn't the white walls and not so good conditions that you hear about. If you care to see any pictures, let me know and I'll send you a link. I can't explain how I felt when I saw these pictures. May God grant us peace while we wait patiently for our perfect little one. One that we have been assured is being (or will be) taken very good care of.

Fun mail

For those of you that aren't in the adoption world, this will be very confusing to you. Sorry about that. The last set of fingerprints we had to do was for our I600A. The I600A is "Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition." Basically this step preapproves the prospective adoptive parents to bring an “immigrant” orphaned child into the United States. The approval can take up to 3 months. It isn't that we wondered IF we would get approval, it was just a matter of WHEN. One of those fun legal things to do. Well, yesterday I got our Favorable Determination Letter (FDL) in the mail. I was in such disbelief I had to fax our case worker at our agency to see if it was really the approval we were waiting for. It took 2 weeks!!!!! It was fun to look at it as the letter was also sent to the National Visa Center. (Once we are matched with a child, he/she will have to get a Visa in order to travel) It was also sent to the capital of Ethiopia. FUN!!! :) It doesn't seem possible that we got this already!!! We do have to pay attention b/c some of it expires in 15 months and some in 18 months. More than likely we will have to go to Sioux Falls to have our fingerprints done again since our wait time has increased. Thankfully the first renewal of fingerprints is free. Our case worker said that we have all paperwork completed until we get a referral. Now we continue to wait in hopes that we get matched up sooner than later. I was actually a bit disheartened after hearing the wait time up-ed to 12-18 months just to get a referral. It didn't take long b/4 God gave me a sense of peace. I was doing some reading the other night. I was able to get a little bit excited over all of this. It is so far away yet and seems so out of reach that it is hard to be super excited! God gave me peace and reassurance that it would all work out in His time.

In the meantime, I have day care secure. :) That is a tough issue in a town our size. We have 2 in home day cares. The day care we took our girls to is no longer open. :( We have a lady on our block that does day care. This would be ideal. She said she would have room for us. Since they up-ed the waiting time, I was concerned that we'd be out of luck. I didn't feel it was fair to make her hold a spot for us. It is hard to plan day care when we don't know when or what age, etc...Again she told me that she would have a spot whenever the time came. :)

A nice surprise

First of all, the electrician has left the building. :) Everything is wired and functioning. We need to insulate and sheet rock. Then he will have to come back to finish the project. What a nice relief to have this done.

Also--we got a nice surprise in the mail today. We got our Hep A shots in Aberdeen. We got our insurance statement today and they actually covered it. :) We were shocked as we didn't think that insurance would cover something like that. It was supposed to be $113 per shot and now we each need to pay our co-pay of $30. Sweet!! It is fun to have GOOD surprises from time to time. When we went to SF for our other shots, we didn't give them our insurance card and paid them upfront. I'm guessing that is b/c they are a "travel clinic." They too have been very good to us. I'm going to call and see if there is any way they would mess with filing these shots with our insurance. I'm not sure if they would do it since they have already been paid, but what does it hurt?! I may only be out a phone call.

Proof yet again

First of all, the electrician came to our house yesterday to wire our new addition. :) He is back again today. That is great news!! It will be nice when we are all done with other people and we can move at our pace. Yesterday I was in Aberdeen with the girls for hair cuts and orthodontist appointments. Jason called me and told me that I needed to stop and rent a cement drill. What are the chances that I was in town when they knew they needed it? Very nice! We had to have the drill back by 9am today in order to not be charged for another day. We didn't get home until later last night. Jason was planning on drilling and then driving the drive to Aberdeen in the middle of the night so that it could be back by 9:00am. Well---I found out that one of our friends from town had to be in Aberdeen by 8:15am. Awesome!!! I was in kind of a tizzy first to think about having to spend the money to rent this stupid thing. Then I thought about having to make yet another trip. Hmmm....it all worked out. Again everything fell into place. :) Thanks Kim for being our hero!!! It was great not to have to make another trip just to return this drill. I need to remember these "simple" things when I get discouraged on this journey. God certainly has His hand in this and it is what we are supposed to be doing. Therefore why things work out the way they do. This is proof to me that this IS meant to be.

August numbers

GIRL---



BOY---

A successful trip to Sioux Falls

Yesterday we went to Sioux Falls for our third (and hopefully) final set of fingerprinting. This was for our immigration stuff. We were also able to get our travel shots that we needed also. So--it was good to be able to get it all done in one trip. Another thing done and another check mark on the list.

It's the little things.....

When we first started this journey, God gave us peace that this was His plan, He would provide, and that things would work out. Yesterday we experienced one of the little things that proves this to us. We went to Aberdeen to get our Hep. A shot. They were so good to us even though we aren't even patients of theirs. The nurse was so excited she said she even wanted to see pictures. Funny! Anyway--we had decided awhile back that we wanted our child to be seen by a pediatrican upon returning to the US. Now some of you are probably wondering why we have even given this a thought. Well--we are an hour away from any pediatrican so that is where all of this thinking comes from. All that he/she could possibly have or been exposed to, might be foreign so we would at least feel better doctoring with someone that specializes in children. We found out yesterday that Sanford in Aberdeen got a new pediatrican recently. Get this...he is from Zimbabwe!!! :) Crazy!!! So--it is the little things that just make us sit back and say "Wow!"

Construction update

The last shingle has been nailed to the roof. Mark needs to come and put the finishing touches on it. The electrican will be doing work for us before he does his other job. :)Whew!! What a huge relief!!!! After that, we will be very slow moving or at a stand still with Jason being so busy with volleyball. I'm okay with that b/c now we will only be waiting on us.

Hep A shots

We will be traveling to Sioux Falls (on Monday) to get Yellow Fever and Typhoid shots. Our local clinic is able to order the Hep A shot, but it can only be purchased in lots of 10. We would need 4 since it is a 2 shot series. We didn't know if we should take the chance and just not get the shot or if we should get shot number 1 in Sioux Falls not really wanting to make another 4 hour one way trip back there in 6 months. I have been in contact with a wonderful lady from Sanford in Aberdeen. We have picked a pediatrican to help us when we return with out little one. Under the circumstances, we want our child to be seen by someone who specializes in children. Anyway--I emailed the lady that I've been in contact with about the pediatrican. She has been wonderful!!! Well, they are going to give us the Hep A series. Sweet!! That means we only have to go to Aberdeen for it. The lady talked to the doctor to get the okay. The nurses know about it. All we have to do is show up. :) We will get our first dose on Friday of this week. It warms my heart so much to have people that don't know us go out of their way for us.

Calling all faithful blog followers....prayer request

Wow! I don't even know where to begin. I have held off posting anything and hoping my feelings would pass. It isn't happening so it is time to call on my faithful blog prayer warriors. I knew that I have been too calm for too long about everything. My personality was bound to win. :) I'm SO overwhelmed with everything going on right now. We are in the middle of adding on a bedroom due to the newest addition that will be joining our family. We have a friend that used to be a carpenter. Jason just wanted some verbal help from him to make sure that Jason was on the right page, etc...Turns out that Jason didn't really know how much work this was really going to be. Thankfully, Mark has been here and helping out lots. What an overwhelming feeling in itself. We are so happy that Mark is willing to help us out. It is even more humbling of an experience b/c he isn't expecting any payment. That saves us quite a bit. To think that someone is willing to give up so much of their time and talents for us. It is yet another way that God is showing us that He will provide. They have 2 sheets of plywood to put on the roof, then they can put the tar paper down and then shingles. After that, Jason will be on his own. I feel bad b/c I'm not able to help more. I'll be able to help more when we get to the sheet rocking, painting, etc....For now though, I feel so helpless. If we get the roof finished, the electrician can come yet this week b/4 he leaves town to start a big job. So--needless to say we really want to be able to get the roof finished SOON so we can continue.

School will be starting soon and that is creating some extra anxiety too. Jason is head volleyball coach and his time for working on the house will be limited. I'm currently working 2 nights a week at a 2nd job. I had hoped to go down to one night a week while volleyball season was going on. It isn't going to happen. The extra money is nice, but I'm not sure the stress will be worth it. I am going to work the next 2 day shifts as well as my already scheduled night shifts b/c she is in a bind. Yet she isn't willing to take one shift away from me. I know it puts her in a bind for only being able to work one night a week, but I'd think it would be better than finding someone for 2 nights a week that she would need if I quit. Micala will be in junior high this year so she will have practice for sports until supper time. This means, I'll have to find a babysitter for Lexi 2 nights a week. Plus try to get 2 kids' homework done and ready for bed, etc...after I get home at 8pm. I just don't know what to do. I said I'd try it to see how it went.

We will be leaving for the weekend. We decided to make some time for our families before we start school. We have to be in Sioux Falls on Monday for fingerprints and shots anyway. Tuesday, Lexi has surgery to remove a cyst on her cheek. It is minor and they don't think it should be cancerous. However, we have never had a child of ours have any sort of surgery so that will be a bit trying for us.

I usually don't go so in-depth with my postings, but I felt if you had a better idea of what was actually happening here you could pray more specifically. I'm impressed that we have held up this well so far. We know this is all in God's time. We know it will all work out. We just are a bit overwhelmed right now. We are excited to be on the wait list. Yet it is disappointing to know we have 9-12 months yet to wait in order to be matched up with our precious little one. Then we still have court and our 2 trips, etc...So it will be a long time until we are home as a family of 5. It seems so far away which is making this harder. I thank you for your prayers and support. We couldn't do this without you.

We are on the wait list!!!!! :)

We got our numbers! :) We are number 86 for a girl and number 53 for a boy. Wow! Those are some high numbers. However, we do not need to be in the number 1 spot in order to get a referral. I figured the girl number would be high as another blog that I'm following recently got on the wait list at 76. I can't put my feelings into words right now so I won't try. Of course we are excited to actually be "expecting" (minus the throwing up) without an actual due date. There is some relief to actually being at this point. Our agency told us that the current wait time is 9-12 months until referral. Part of me thinks that isn't bad and part of me thinks that is still so far considering we have travel time, courts, etc...after the referral. All in God's time. All in God's time. There have been so many things happening in regards to adding on to our house that my brain is swimming. So much to sort out. For now, we need time to soak in the fact that we have cleared a huge hurdle. Praise God!! Everyone has a fun way to post their numbers. I was drawing a blank, but did manage to come up with something.

Construction

Major construction has begun on the new addition to our house. It feels good to be getting it started. We have a friend who is a carpenter helping Jason out with things. What a great resource!! We appreciate all of his help. Any place we can save some money is good. Thanks, Mark!

One more paper needs to make it to our agency. We are hoping tomorrow is our day for the wait list. :)

Changes to fingerprinting appointment

We heard back from the SF office regarding our fingerprinting appointment. Jason was scheduled for 8am and mine was scheduled for 2pm. I sent them a letter requesting for our times to be closer together. We are both now at 2pm. :) That will make things so much easier. Now I can schedule our shots. It is nice when things all come together and work out.