Oh the joy of Hydro!!

I just decided that I would not be a good Amish housewife. I have always been fascinated by that whole culture. This week we had an amazing wind storm in Southern Ontario. Unfortunately it knocked out power all over the place. And since we live in the boonies we were one of the last ones to have power restored. 3 days without power!!!! And 7 people living in the house needing showers, flushing toilets, needing food etc. You get the idea. Luckily I have amazing in-laws who shared their generator with us (1/2 day for us and 1/2 day for them) and we were able to keep our food frozen and have running water (cold water- no hot water). My point here is not to complain but to say that after this I will be forever grateful that I am not Amish and that I can enjoy the comforts of our modern society. My kids will always remember this and also appreciate these comforts.

In the world of adoption there is no new news for us. Sorry that this is all so boring for you all.

So hard waiting....

I really have no news to share with you. I am back to feeling the way I did pre-referral. Waiting for an e-mail that at least gives us a court #.  I am tired, frustrated, weary and nervous. It's been more than 2 months since our referral. UGH!!! A couple of delays and we are still waiting. First, in January we needed to get our birth and marriage certificates notarized. These then had to be sent off to the government and we would get a new Statutory Declaration (SD). We then received our referral Feb 8th. Our SD did not get back from the gov. until Mar. 4th . That was then sent to Ethiopia and had to be translated first. (I don't think they file for a court date until that was all there). We then had a small glitch in one of our documents (luckily no new SD). That set us back a few weeks. When I talked to Imagine a few weeks ago they had said that they were just then filing our papers for a court date. UGH!!! So now we wait.
I'm not sure how long this will take. There have been some major delays in Ethiopia with them moving to do just 5 adoptions per day. It's rumoured that this could delay each adoption by a year. A whole year in the life of a child in an orphanage is a huge deal. Our little guy has already spent 6 months in an orphange. By the time we bring him home he will be out of the age range that we are approved of by the Ont. gov. ( in Ontario you have to be approved for a child that will be a certain age when you bring them home - not at referral). My biggest concern is the amount of time he will have spent in an orphanage when he could have been in our home with his family.
God has given me so much peace. Unfortunately this week I've started letting my worries choke out the peace. Pray that I can learn to lean on Him again. I hate feeling this way. I hate that this is all consuming. I hate these helpless feelings I have. I hate the wait.

More Patience Needed

No news about a court date yet. Getting a little impatient. E-mailed Imagine and they said I should be getting my court file# within the next 2 weeks and then who knows how long of a wait after that for a court date. Hopefully I will know by the end of April. Court will more than likely not be until July. This would make my farmer hubby breath a little easier (not that he doesn't want to go as soon as possible). The first couple of weeks in July are more manageable on the farm.

We did manage to get away to Florida for a couple of weeks. Here are some pics from that:

Emotions since referral

One would think my one and only emotion right now would be joy. It is my main emotion but other ones keep creeping into my daily life:

JOY- definitely happy,happy,happy about this referral

RELIEF- a huge wait has been lifted from our life in knowing that we have a referral and we can move forward.
              

PANIC- will I be a good mom to a child who has lost so much already? Will I be able to meet his emotional
 needs? Am I to old to be patient with a toddler?

WORRY- I worry that something can still disrupt this adoption. I've been through something similar. We
were matched (did not have a referral) with a sweet little girl from Ghana and then everything fell apart. There are many changes happening with Imagine right now and I pray that they will be positive.
               

HURT- A little hurt by people who we are close to who have not congratulated us and refuse to mention anything about what is happening. I wonder what their reaction would be if we were pregnant?

NERVOUS- A little freaked about traveling to a country like Ethiopia. Excited but nervous. AHH!!!

SAD- Sad for all my blogger and Yahoo friends who are anxiously waiting for their referral. Sad for all that
my little guy has lost in order to get to this point.

IMPATIENT- I was fine for about a week and now I just want to know when court is. It will be at least
another couple of weeks before we find that out.

HONORED- That we were chosen to be this little guys parents. What an amazing privilege!!!

AMAZED- That God was in control and decided we needed a little boy. Amazed that we have been
matched with this little guy since the beginning of November. What took them so long??



I don't talk a whole lot about my family. I don't want them to feel like I invade their privacy.But I had to mention that my oldest who is now 16 1/2 just got baptized last Sunday. What an experience. He has matured so much over the years and is so much fun to be around. Not everyone can say that about their teen son. God has done great things in his life. He has blessed me immeasurably. Thank you God!!
I also need to mention that he just bought his first motorbike and car. Next picture you see of me will be with  a full head of grey hair.

SURPRISE AND SHOCK

YES!!!! We have our referral.

We have a referral of a handsome little guy.

I know what you are all thinking .Where's the girl you have been waiting for for 2 years?

We received a phone call this morning (of course I was out shopping and my husband got the call) that they have a 2 year old boy for us. We were shocked to say the least. I raced home and checked my homestudy update and sure enough the last line read  "a child 0-42 months". How did we miss this?

It took me all of 1/2 a second to look at that picture and fall in love. Hauntingly big sad eyes. I was hooked.

It's not that we never wanted a boy. We have 2 boys and 2 girls right now. I love my boys to bits. We just thought that a girl in a third world country has less options when they grow older. And if I'm honest with myself I love dressing up little girls (pretty shallow-Right?).

I believe that if God wanted us to have that girl He would have made that happen. For some reason He wants this little dude in our home and we are thrilled.

It didn't take long for our kids to adjust to the idea. They are already in love with him.

Adoption update

No, not a referral. I wish I would be sharing that with you. We did have the pleasure of more paperwork and more money deposited into our wonderful government. Apparently we needed to have our birth certificates and our marriage certificate certified once again. Up until recently, these documents did not expire when you do your update. But now somehow doing it once is not good enough. Okay so we did that. The problem then is that these documents don't have the same date as all our other updated documents from Sept. So we need to send them away to get a Statutory Declaration. A Satutory  Declaration is a list of all documents that you need and they need to be notarized, legalized and authenticated by the Ethiopian Embassy here in Canada.  No document can be dated after the Statutory Declaration that we did in Sept. so we need to do a new one. This does cost money (not a huge sum in light of everything we paid) and it takes time. Time, time, time, time!!!! The days and weeks seem to feel like they drag on. I have a strong feeling we are close but when you are told this will all take up to 3 weeks, that seems like forever. This is all supposed to prevent delays in courts in Ethiopia so I guess that is a good thing. We'll see if it works. I just wonder what's going to come out of the woodwork next.

"Today I will make a Difference"

As I was cleaning out some neglected cupboards I found a poem that I have cherished. I will now post it by my bathroom mirror where I can see it as a reminder. This adoption ( along with a few other things) has been tough on me. I hope this encourages you as well today.




Today I Will Make a Difference
by Max Lucado

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference.

I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference.

I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It's OK to stumble... I will get up. It's OK to fail... I will rise again. Today I will make a difference.

I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends.

Today I will make a difference.

Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failure. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on.


Blessings on you and your family today.