Tumbling Around

Josiah has been begging us to sign him up for gymnastics for a long time. We signed him up for a trial period (5 weeks). It's a good thing, because as I'm sitting here writing this post, he's begging me (again with the begging) to not make him go back. I think that if we would have gone with the local mom and pop gym, he would have liked it. My middle child is a homebody.

Leprechaun Traps

Isaac's class made leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day. We thought it was a fun idea, so Josiah and Olivia made one for home. Ours looked a little more homemade than the one we made for Isaac. But Josiah and Olivia were very proud of it.

The leprechaun climbed up the fire truck ladder to try and reach the shiny silver (we didn't have any gold on hand, so silver foil had to do). He fell into the trap that we had set up.

But he escaped, leaving a trail of foil pieces.

Since he thought we were pretty clever, he left each kid a pack of gum behind.

Isaac and his class had Kite Day.

Jays said that Isaac ran and ran, only to take a water break here and there.

Isaac wanted "JUST Dad." to come to this special day.

Here is the trap we made with Isaac. The leprechaun climbed up the ladder, but fell through the top of the hat because it was made of felt. He didn't stay trapped, but left gold coins behind for all of the class.

Catch Up

I've been so bogged down with adoption stuff and church directory stuff that I haven't posted many pictures lately. So here are a few of the last couple of weeks.

They are slightly out of order, but you'll get the idea.

While I worked on church directory photos, Josiah and Olivia stayed entertained for 2 1/2 hours! And guess what they made? A trap.

What a mess. It only took about 10 minutes to clean up with my help. Worth it.

And guess what they trapped?

He seemed pretty content under there.

He used to not cuddle. I'm so glad that he does now.

The boys wanted me to take this picture so that they could be published in the Lego magazine. Maybe I should send it in...

This is my tag along. Everywhere I have to go, he has to go. He's a trooper.

Isaac, the fisherman. I think he almost caught a few heads of adults around him instead of fish.

Olivia and her sweet friend.

I watched on, in fear of alligators lurking under them.

Josiah and Isaac had a blast digging for crabs.

Yes, I let Olivia go like this to the grocery store.

A Day To Celebrate

On Friday, we celebrated for two reasons.

1. Jay's 31st birthday

2. Our dossier for adoption was mailed off

Jay's favorite, lemon poppy seed muffins for breakfast.

I love how kids think that adults need big birthday parties. We had to have candles for breakfast so that Isaac could celebrate with us before school.

On our way to mail off the dossier.

That little folder does not come close to showing all of the love and work poured out the last 2 months.

Oh how we HOPE that our Hadassah is closer than it all appears.

Happy Birthday, Jay! What a great way to celebrate.

We ended our night with some good friends.

We went to eat some yumo food and then headed to a Derek Webb concert.

What a fun, fun night!!

Happy Birthday, Jay! You are so loved.

Sorry About That

Yes, I did try to post something today and for some reason, I couldn't get the words to line up on the page correctly. Half sentences were dropping off of the blog. :)

Maybe that is how I feel anyway...kind of halfway there.

Last Friday, we received some great news and then we were socked in the stomach that night before we went to bed. We are still in line, closer than #9 now. But the wait could be very, very long.

A group in Ethiopia called MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) is the primary adoption authority in Ethiopia. They decided that as of March 10th (today), the will no longer going to be writing the normal 30-50 letters needed in order for the adoption to be processed, they'll instead write only 5. So this decreases the adoptions out of Ethiopia by about 90%. We will get a referral within the next few months, but we could be waiting to bring our daughter home for 2-3 years.

Last weekend, we didn't know what to do. Should we hang on to all of the paperwork that we worked so hard to gather, or send it off in our dossier, knowing that it could be all for nothing?

God directed me to Hebrews 11:1-2. And He told me to hold my head high and hope in the promise that he has given us. So we are hoping. And praying. And hoping. And praying.

Alright. So maybe this does not all make sense. It's hard to explain something that I just started trying to understand 3 months ago. And it's hard to post this right after our exciting news in the last post. But PLEASE pray with us and with the many adoptive families and orphans. Pray, especially, for our friends, Tory and Kedra, who have a court date on the 15th and are hoping for the MOWA letter to be ready so that they can bring their daughter home.

While this seems like a huge mountain, God is much, much greater and our trust is in him. Hadassah has a family waiting for her no matter where she is or what the timing is.

I'm putting the latest update below in case some of you can speak educated language better than Amy language. :)

(From National Council for Adoption) NCFA Issues Statement Regarding Ethiopia Adoptions

At the end of February 2011, the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWA) issued an unexpected directive indicating a dramatic reduction in the number of inter country adoption cases to be processed by the Ministry. This directive is scheduled to go into effect by Thursday, March 10, 2011.

In 2010, more than 2,500 Ethiopian children were adopted by American families. Should MOWA implement the recent directive as indicated, the number of adoptions from Ethiopia could fall as much as 90%, although the full impact of MOWA’s decision is unknown and cannot be predicted at this time.

This ruling follows a year of significant progress in improving and increasing transparency in the Ethiopian adoption process. Following several safeguards enacted last year, NCFA’s confidence in the Ethiopian adoption system has grown significantly. Additional protective measures may still be necessary, however, to increase global confidence in the process. MOWA’s recent decision appears to have surprised many Ethiopian government officials, as well as the Central Adoption Authorities in the U.S., Italy, and Spain. Many within the adoption community, including the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), members of Congress, child welfare officials in many countries, and the National Council For Adoption (NCFA), have criticized the MOWA directive as unfair, unnecessary, and harmful to children in Ethiopian orphanages who await permanent families.

NCFA is grateful for the swift action taken by the U.S. Department of State, led by Special Advisor Ambassador Susan Jacobs, to communicate with Ethiopian adoption officials in an effort to reach a favorable resolution that will serve the best interests of abandoned and orphaned children in Ethiopia.

“We are encouraged by the advocacy taking place behind the scenes and hopeful that these collective efforts will bring clarity and an immediate adjustment to this unjust and unnecessary ruling, which has the potential to negatively impact so many vulnerable children,” said NCFA president and CEO Chuck Johnson.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that personnel changes within MOWA have resulted from the rogue handling of this decision, and because of this, NCFA is hopeful that new leadership will offer opportunities for better communication and a swift resolution to this looming crisis. NCFA respectfully calls on MOWA to amend its recent harmful directive and ensure that subsequent reforms reflect a comprehensive child welfare policy that retains the option of inter country adoption for Ethiopian orphans while ensuring policies and procedures that serve the best interests of children.

NCFA’s website contains the most current information they have: https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/

In Line

It's official! We are on the waiting list for a referral. And we are not #21 like we expected. We are number 9!!

The agency director told us today that we can hope to get a referral in about 4 months. Things had slowed down right after we applied, so we thought that it could possibly take a year to even get a referral. But sooner sounds good to me.

Let me explain to those of you who don't understand the whole adoption process. (We are figuring it out as we go.) Here is what all takes place (in words that people like me understand):

1. Apply with the agency of choice

2. Home study (social worker comes to the house to see if you and your home are fit for an adopted child)

3. Put dossier together (all of the paperwork like birth certificates, marriage license, medical forms, background checks, reference letters....the list goes on and on)

4. Send off dossier to be authenticated

5. Dossier authenticated and translated in Ethiopia

6. Case submitted to court

7. Court date given (a date when Jay and I will travel to Ethiopia the first time, appear in court (about a 5 minute procedure), and meet Hadassah)

8. Case approved by the court

9. Case submitted to the embassy for appointment

10. Travel back to Ethiopia to pick up Hadassah

11. Home!!

Photography

For the month of March I have been/will be taking photographs for our church's directory. I enjoy doing it even though it can be a little stressful to take on such a project and not be a professional. One thing that I've really liked about it is that I am able to meet people who I might not normally run into. (We have 3 services.) I also really feel like I get to know the individuals and families just by looking at their faces on my computer and get the images ready for the directory.

This past Sunday, I took the photo of the couple above. They are new to our church so I hadn't met them until that day. The lady joined the choir and they both had already started helping out and getting involved. Monday morning I received a call from a friend who told me that the lady who is pictured above died while in a horse riding accident that same morning. The news broke my heart.

I really do have a passion for photography. I've shied away from it because I can never take a perfect photo and I'm a perfectionist. But I have learned something this week about the gift that God has given me. Whether or not I think the lighting is right, I am still capturing a memory for someone. In this case, the photo I took is most likely the last tangible memory that this husband will have left of his wife. While I do want to continue to learn more and perfect my photography skills, I never want to think more of the picture than the person I see through my lens.