His little world...

Hilwawe Foundation Orphanage- Addis Ababa

We’re currently in one of the last waiting phases of our adoption process. This phase is involving a lot of preparation… we’re researching strollers, we’ve got a spot saved with a sweet little ‘grandma-style’ daycare when he’s ready and I’ve been sorting through my bags of hand me downs. I’m working on getting my school life as organized as possible, we’ve registered at Target, friends are designing baby shower invites and we’re getting a jump start on the fall projects. Wes is reading lots…before our house is louder and busier. But, lately I’ve been reminded a lot of days of what Kaleb is doing.

He’s doing the same thing he was in July and May and April… sleeping, drinking a bottle, playing with his hands, smiling at the nannies. Sleeping, drinking a bottle, playing with his hands, smiling at the nannies. That’s his life right now. A few times a day, they put him in the bouncer seat or swap out his little toys or walk with him around the room for a bit. But that’s it. That’s all the life he knows. To him, life involves kind ladies in blue providing the basics to ten babies at a time. They smile and love on him but, he doesn’t belong to anyone. They wrap him snug, lay him down and he eventually falls asleep when there’s nothing left to do. When he’s hungry, he gives them a smile when they come to prop his bottle up. Orphanages are quiet places. Babies in orphanages don’t cry. They learn there’s no point. Its clean and warm but its not a home. But, its his version of normal.

It doesn’t involve unlimited tickles and cuddles and play time outside. It doesn’t involve long warm soothing bathes followed by snuggles in a cute towel with teddy bear ears. It doesn’t involve early morning cuddles in mom and dad’s bed. It doesn’t involve bedtime stories in the rocking chair with mom or midnight walks with dad. No one holds the bottle for him and whispers ‘I love you sweet Kaleb’ to him while he eats. No one to give the “I’m just bored and want to hang out with someone” cry to. His early weeks of introduction to the world involved a farewell to his birth family. Who knows how he survived the few weeks between his birth and arrival at the orphanage. Every week, these  people come to play. They come and go, come and go. They smell different, talk different, look different. They seem nice but, they seem more like a new toy to play with rather than anything else. This one time, a white couple came and cuddled a lot. They cuddled lots and lots. But then they left.

He doesn’t know what’s coming, or what it all means or how it’ll all work out. He doesn’t know that within the next few months, at the age of 6-7 months, everything in his world will change. The nice nannies in blue will kiss him goodbye, that white couple who really liked to cuddle will return, he’ll immigrate to a new country. New smells, new language, new tastes, new water, tvs, noisy toys, cell phones ringing and a thousand other forms of new. A nursery for one.

I’m 31 years old and can’t image moving to a foreign country let alone being 6 months old and moving to a foreign country. Some may think, oh- he’s just a little baby. True, but- that’s all he has known. We’re going to flip it all inside out. Well… Together, we’re going to flip our worlds inside out. Schedules, expectations, our love, our patience, our comfort zones. We’ll have waited over 18 months to be home together as family. He’s been living all but days of his life without a family. Son. Dad. Mom. New titles, new roles and new entitlements. We’re confidant it won’t always be pretty, or quiet, or glamorous, or fun, or easy. But, we’re excited how we grow to truly become a family… to redefine his normal.  We can't wait to have him here!!  In the meantime, we'll continue to pray for good health, God's protection and a speedy process in getting him home. 

Birth Certificate!

We found out today that they have Kaleb's new birth certificate- yay, just one step closer!  So...the next thing on the list is getting the passport.  They estimate this will take a few weeks.  After that, we are submitted to the Embassy for their review.  Once they're satisfied, we'll be cleared for travel.  We're sticking with our 'October-ish' range of when he'll be home.  Just keep praying for a speedy process and that he continues to do well while waiting in the orphanage.  Today our little guy turns 5 months old- can't wait for these monthly milestones to be happening in our home so we can post lots of pictures!!

He is OURS!!

Oh, we have incredible news to share.... we got our MOWA letter.  Actually, God provided our MOWA letter : )  On Tuesday, Wes called to chat about the to pick me up at Wall in an effort leave our little automatic pickup with my parents.  And, then...he quietly said- 'Oh, ya- we got our MOWA letter'.  WOW!  Mom was driving the car back to Philip when he called- Mom nearly forgot how to drive a car and we were both thrileed!!!  We are so blessed and thankful for God's provision in allowing our adoption to not get held up in the rainy season court closure.  It is suddenly becoming real that soon we really are going to be a family of three.  Yikes, we've got lots to do and lots to be thankful for.  The official adoption decree was signed on August 10th.  So, he is officially and legally ours :) 
So, now what?  We have turned in our completed I-600 and now are waiting to be submitted to the embassy to process Kaleb's immigration.  Our agency will get his newly update birth certificate, take him for his passport photo (which will be the world's cutest passport ever) and gather up all our paperwork.  The big question now is... when will he come home?  We think that we'll all be home together around what we're calling 'October-ish'.  Could be alittle sooner (although not likely) and could be a little later... just like we've said before- God knows!

God speaks in complete sentences.

This week we've been doing alot of 'praying without ceasing' but I have to admit that the verse that has been running through my head continually has actually been the one just before the 'pray without ceasing' one which says- 'rejoice in all things'.  Like when you listen to a fun song on the radio and its stuck in your head for hours and days and days and suddenly its been a week.  That's what the last handful of days have been like.  Lots of prayers for all those waiting, for MOWA letters, for the workers, for our process and for Kaleb's continued good care.  By the end of the week, I had checked my email more times than I care to admit.  And, God kept saying 'rejoice in all things'.  Friday came and went with no word on our MOWA letter.  Many people feel that Friday was the last day the judge generously delayed her holiday in order to finalize as many cases as possible which had received their MOWA letters.  Many, many, many families received their letters and I am so thankful that so many kiddos will be heading home as soon as possible. 
So, what does this mean?  Well, we don't know for sure and when we say 'God only knows...' we mean it wholeheartedly and genuinely.  Our guess is that most likely Kaleb's adoption will not be finalized by the Ethiopian court until October when court resumes and the judge again is at work signing finalization papers.  Once the finalization is signed, we will begin working with our Embassy to get our little guy immigrated to the US!  God knows, we'll just follow along as He reveals His plan and timing to us. 
If we read the complete sentence found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it reads like this..

" ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

While we wait some more- we have a lot to rejoice and give thanks for while we're praying continually.  We can't just pick and choose which we want to do and which we'd rather push aside.  We are rejoicing that we've been to Ethiopia.  We know he is in a clean, warm and very caring environment where the nannies pretty much have those little babies on the verge of spoiled.  He is healthy and happy and knows how to flash that smile to the sweet nannies across the room.  We are so blessed to have been granted an early court date.  Others who have received their referrals near to ours will be waiting until November for their court dates.  There will be blessings in God's timing for this fall.  Perhaps we are to get the busyness of fall concessions out of the way, get my teacher in training all set and a few more months to save up a little extra for when I'm home from work for a bit. 

In the meantime, I'm bringing my summer to a close by doing what I love and has consumed a majority of my summer days.... heading to the country to drive tractor for Dad :) Definitely no wi-fi and or constant email checking, that's for sure.  We'll see how rusty my farmer brain is- like Dad says, I probably 'better grease it before ya go'.

If you would please...

"Pray without ceasing."
- God (1 Thess. 5:17)

In a few hours, the MOWA office workers will show up for work.  Please, please pray for their work to be efficient, productive and that any obstacles may be removed before they even become a distraction.    There are a lot of families with essentially 'complete' adoptions except for their MOWA letters.  We think the Ethiopian judge will continue signing letters for the next few days before court officially closes.  Please, pray for the workers there and for good news in the next few days. 
Thanks and God Bless!

The Path Ahead...

We've been home for a week now but honestly, Ethiopia seems like a very long time ago.  Much more than a week.  Its been an interesting week to say the least.  Last Sunday we celebrated my grandparents' 60th Wedding anniversary then made it home after 10 days by Sunday evening.  It felt great to be home and in our own bed!  Wes had to work all week and on Tuesday I went to go help cook at Rodeo Bible Camp.  It was so much fun sharing the pictures and our story with my incredible friends in Christ there.  Kaleb's fan club seems to grow by the day :)  Wednesday morning while sitting in the cook shack our good family friend Rod came in and told Mom and I that Dad had been in an accident and was at the local hospital.  So, off we went.  As we like to say- "it's all fixable".  At the hospital we discovered that he had wrecked his 4-wheeler while helping move cows.  It flipped over on top of him however, he was able to crawl out from under it himself.  Thankfully, he was working with other guys that day.  So many days Dad is out in the field or pasture alone.  They got him into the pickup and off they went for the hospital.  He completely broke his collar bone (even though the P.A. in Philip repeatedly said it absolutely was NOT broken??)  and completely broke his upper arm.  Surgery, lots of pins, screws, a rod, a plate and 3 days in the hospital later and he's put back together and doing better.  There are so many ways in which God protected him from anything worse and we are so very grateful!  So, a lot of the week was spent helping with that stuff.  It definitely proved to be a distraction from the wait for a MOWA letter, that's for sure!! 
MOWA letters...please continue to pray for the individuals writing the MOWA letters.  With the court closure dates here, there is a lot of uncertainty as to when/if court cases will be approved if the MOWA letters get there after court has closed.  There are lots of rumors but we know the truth.  God knows how it will all play out.  He's set the plans ahead and we've just got to see what lies ahead.  At this point, we 'think' we will travel again sometime in the fall.  Maybe October-ish or November-ish.  Seems like a long time to go but, August is flying past us and that just leaves September in the middle of it all.  In the meantime, we'll just keep praying  for the MOWA workers and that Dad gets to feeling better soon as well. 

We said...

On July 28th, 2011 we stood before the Ethiopian adoption court judge for our court date.  We were up a little earlier than usual that day.  I had thankfully acquired the ability to sleep through the neighborhood rooster and the morning prayers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  Wes on the other hand, slept even less between the rooster, prayers and thunderstorms.  That day, it didn't matter how sleepy we were.  After breakfast, we loaded up the van with the other families to head for the court building.  We were one of the first groups to arrive so we took a seat in the waiting room.  The room filled up with adoptive families, their agency workers and a few birthparents.  That was the hard part of the day... Every adoption involves hardship and difficulty within the story of how a child's final family is formed.  The few birthmothers in that room looked so very weary and their unwavering eyes just starred off to a far away place.  It had to be intimidating and difficult beyond anything we can even imagine.  As we sat there, I just prayed for peace in their hearts, hope for the future and understanding that their children will be dearly loved in their future homes.  Our son's birthfamily wasn't there that day- he had lived the day a week before. 
So we sat there, a mix of families on both ends of the adoption process.  The office worker would call out orphanage names and then families with children there would come forward.  Finally, it was our turn.  We entered the judge's office and took a seat.  She is a beautiful younger, very professional and regal looking woman.  After asking us a handful of questions she came to the last one.   She said, "Are you aware that this decision is final, are you sure you want to adopt this child?"  And, we said yes.  It was simple and beautiful.  Want to know what adoption is all about- its about saying yes to a child.  That's it.  The paperwork, the waiting, the rules, the changes, the heartache, the uncertainty- that's not what its about.  Those are man-made side effects required of the process.  Its about saying yes to God when He calls your heart and yes to the child who steals your heart.   Praise the Lord, we're so incredibly blessed!