Hannah's Hope- Ethiopia and more

Hannah's Hope: Our son's home
I love both of the following videos:



Our son's home: http://ourjourneyjohn1418.blogspot.com/2008/12/hannahs-hope-in-ethiopiaour-babies.html



Africa: http://ourjourneyjohn1418.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-need-africa-more-than-africa-needs-me.html

Waiting...to officially wait

I'm waiting...

...to officially wait to... ...be on the waitlist!

Well I've been really patient about the adoption and waiting for all of the approvals. However, I'm restless and anxious today. I have tons of questions...."Is he born yet?" "When will we get a referral?" "How old will he be?" "Will we pass court the first time?" "When will we travel?"

"When will I walk this walk to Hannah's Hope?"

Some facts about AGCI for you all... (and yes...some of this was taken straight from another blog...I'm a thief)

All God’s Children (AGCI); our international agency has it’s own orphanage in Ethiopia called Hannah’s Hope. “Hannah” is the name of the founder’s daughter, adopted from Romania a decade and a half ago. It is directed by a woman named Almaz Asresahin, an Ethiopian who lived and studied in the US for 14 years. The orphanage houses 65 children ages 3 months to 15 years. At Hannah’s Hope, all children are screened for HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and Hepatitis B and C prior to being referred to families. Under Ethiopian intercountry adoption law, HIV/AIDS positive children are not eligible for international adoption. We have to wait because, although there are over 4 million orphans in Ethiopia, Hannah’s Hope has room for only 65 at a time. After making our way through the waiting list we will receive our “referral”. This is the moment families wait and hope for. These days a waiting family will receive a call and then an emailed picture and history (both personal and medical) of a child. The family has a set amount of time (usually 3 days) in which to except or not except this referral. AGCI requires that parents speak to an international physician about the child’s medical history to make sure they realize what they are signing up for or are comfortable with the unknowns. Our international pediatrician gave me his cell phone and wants me to contact him as soon as possible. He too has adopted internationally and is eager to help us accept our referral a.s.a.p. If the family excepts the referral the staff at Hannah’s Hope begins the court proceedings to adopt this child on their behalf. There is a request for a court date and then we wait for the Ethiopian courts to review our case and approve the adoption. Some...to many...don't pass court the first time for a variety of different reasons, almost always out of our control. After the adoption is official, parents usually travel within 6 weeks to pick up their child. The issue that we will encounter is the yearly summer break the Ethiopian federal courts take. They completely shut down in the months of August and September. This creates a huge backlog of cases waiting to be seen. AGCI estimates an average of 3-5 months from the referral date to travel, but clearly this annual shut down adds months to that time frame. Barring a speedy referral and a trouble free court date, it seems we will be effected by this delay. Each country is different- some require parents to come to the country and visit the child before excepting the referral, then leave again for 6 + months before returning to bring the child home. Ethiopia only requires one trip, and only one of the parents is required to travel. All of the legal proceedings are rapped up before the parents travel so it is a relatively efficient system. Our little guy will travel home on a IR-4 Visa and then be re-adopted here in the states. Even though he is officially ours without doing this, the re-adoption will make things much, much more easy in the future for him and for us.

Ethiopian Adoption Changes!

Each month we recieve a newsletter from AGCI. We are still waiting for some state approvals of our homestudy and once they are here...we will be "officially" waiting on the list. Currently, the boys wait list is at 9. It is growing, which means more boys will have forever homes. Yeah! Changes are taking place right now with Ethiopian Adoptions. Please pray that these changes occur for the best interest of the kiddos and that they are efficient and effective.

Abandonment Hold and Investigation
Ethiopia that the Federal Courts of Addis Ababa have put a hold on approving any case where the child has been abandoned. This will be the case until an investigation is done in Ethiopia. This is most likely due to the trend in more abandonment cases in Addis Ababa. This investigation is needed to determine if children are being illegally abandoned. I've also heard that DNA testing may take place to insure legitmate cases for adoption. This change will effect people right now and in the near future. It should be in effective and smooth running by the time we are near the start of the waitlist. Pray for those families being effected right now.

Garage Sale Success and Adoption Update!

Our good friends Cara and Dave opened their home and hearts to us by coordinating our Garage Sale Fundraiser. Both Cara and Dave posess such wonderful "gifts". "Gifts" that cannot even be described.

"When you ask God for a gift, Be thankful if he sends,

Not diamonds, pearls or riches, but the love of real true friends."

~Helen Steiner Rice

Cara and Dave are the type of people that make you want to be a better person. Their encouragement, warmth, care, and compassion to serve doesn't even begin to describe them. Both inspire us to want to serve others and share God's gift of love. Their compassion for others is contagious.

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same." ~ Flavia Weedn

Thank You Dave and Cara for being you and for helping us bring our son FORVER HOME. We thank God for giving us such wonderful friends.

Here is our family...for now. (Cara made this wonderful sign for our sale.)

Here are the kids waiting for lemonade stand customers.


Here they are partaking in some of the treats themselves.




One view of our busy, busy sale. (Yeah)





The kiddos preparing some treats for their stand. Hubby's mom pictured with the girls helped prepare the treats.











Funny Story: The sale opened at 4 on Friday...To make a long story short people were visiting Cara at 1:00. Due the wounderful chaos of people, we didn't have time to unload everything. I had a van full of womens clothes that didn't get out in time. My car doors were open and many ladies decided to just hop in my car and shop. This was great....However, when I was ready to leave, my car was dead! Too funny! Mechanic Dave helped me out and got my car moving again.






Another view of all the fantastic donations.

Me and my Mommy!

Here are many of the ladies...and Mechanic Dave, who helped sort clothes, move tables, etc..etc... Thank You Thank You Ladies...and Dave!

Mechanic Dave making hot dogs for the crowd.

Our sale went so well....I actually surpassed my goal 5X. Wow!!!!!!!!

Thanks again to all of those who helped us; whether it was shopping at our sale, donating items, putting in some sweat equity, and those who prayed for us.

Our local caseworker informed us that we are still waiting on our DCFS Clearances. I'm being very patient...but hopefull that the process will get moving. I'm anxious to get on the waiting list. Once our clearances come through, we will have one more set of state approvals, and then waitlist here we come. WAAAHOOO!