When Mike got home from work on June 9th we talked about my day. He wasn’t surprised at all when I told him I was ready to adopt again. Though I was still a total basket case with grief over Jonathan we decided to move forward. We know adoptions can take so long and we didn’t expect our child to be home till next spring. I thought I would be less a basket case by then and would be glad we’d started when we did. Mike and I both felt strongly that after all the kids and us have been through that last few years with Jonathan’s illness and death we were ready for “easy”. It seemed that we should do the easiest kind of adoption which is younger than our youngest at home. We have never done the birth order adoption rule, but it is the right thing for our family right now. We also wanted to adopt the “easiest” special need which to us would be HIV+.
While we were talking Mike and I came to the same conclusion at about the same time…we should just go ahead and adopt Edelawit. We have known Edelawit’s face for a long time. Family friends here in town were adopting two girls from Ethiopia, one a little girl named Eden and also baby girl Imani. My friend had given me a photo of Eden long ago and it’s been on our frig all these months. In the photo Eden is sitting on a nun’s lap next to a friend whose name is Edelawit. There is something about keeping photos on the frig of orphans needing homes. Those faces become a part of your heart and you can’t get them out. So….I emailed our agency AAI to see if Edelawit age 2-3 at Kidane Mehret was still available and she was!
We really wanted a baby boy too. We didn’t want our very last baby to be one that died. The Lord impressed on me that it was fine and dandy to ask for my heart’s desire. I struggle with this you know…I feel that I don’t deserve all the blessings He heaps on me, Of course I really don’t deserve them, but He wants me to ask Him for what I want anyway. That is just the kind of Father He is. So I told Him that in my humble opinion the very most perfect little boy would be Down Syndrome and HIV+. “Pleeease God…. but You always chose best so we’ll go with what You say”
Our updated home study approved us for five children ages 0-16 years old and any special needs specifically addressing HIV+. (might as well cover all our bases) There were no little HIV+ baby boys waiting in care to be referred. I kept praying and trusting God would bring the child (or children, remember I was given two names) in time to be added to our case with Edelawit. The agency director said she thought there just wasn’t much of a chance an HIV baby would come into care and be able to be referred with Edelawit. We knew we wouldn’t wait and stall Edelawit’s adoption. That would not be fair to her. As the weeks passed we were compiling our dossier and waiting to hear news of a baby. I kept looking at other kids, older kids. Thinking that if there wasn’t a chance we could adopt a baby then we should just go ahead and get another older child or two. I felt the Lord telling me (and Mike!) to wait till August 4th. This is a very important day for our family and a story for another day. On August 4th I was asking Mike and our agency about adding two older HIV kids…..and just then I got an email saying a tiny baby boy had been brought into care and he was HIV+. If we wanted him he was ours! His paperwork wouldn’t be ready for a month but the timing would work out. Okay, so he wasn't HIV+ and Down Syndrome but I thought he was perfect anyway. Smile. Our baby is at AHOPE. His Ethiopian name is “Assefa” which means “God as multiplied our family”. Yes, He sure has!
For their precious children’s privacy Ethiopia does not allow photos of referred children until after adoption is finalized in court. Here is a photo of our symbol of them though. I bought these at
Target the day after we started this adoption. I thought we’d be adopting three kids and wanted three little lambs…but they only had two left. **Mike says it is because we are only adopting two. Only two right now though AAI. Our agency director said that it would be pushing it to adopt three unrelated children t one time with our large family etc…Maybe we will meet and fall in love with someone (#3 lamb?) when we are there visiting. It is very dangerous to visit those orphanages and meet the 100s of beautiful children pinning away for a mommy and daddy. These two lambs sit on the kitchen window still to remind me to pray for our two newest little lambs waiting for us in Ethiopia.
Here is a photo of Mike and I on the day our dossier went to Ethiopia. We have our children’s referrals and our paperwork is all in Addis and moving through the system. Now we wait to hear about being assigned a “Group” and getting a court date.
Julee
While we were talking Mike and I came to the same conclusion at about the same time…we should just go ahead and adopt Edelawit. We have known Edelawit’s face for a long time. Family friends here in town were adopting two girls from Ethiopia, one a little girl named Eden and also baby girl Imani. My friend had given me a photo of Eden long ago and it’s been on our frig all these months. In the photo Eden is sitting on a nun’s lap next to a friend whose name is Edelawit. There is something about keeping photos on the frig of orphans needing homes. Those faces become a part of your heart and you can’t get them out. So….I emailed our agency AAI to see if Edelawit age 2-3 at Kidane Mehret was still available and she was!
We really wanted a baby boy too. We didn’t want our very last baby to be one that died. The Lord impressed on me that it was fine and dandy to ask for my heart’s desire. I struggle with this you know…I feel that I don’t deserve all the blessings He heaps on me, Of course I really don’t deserve them, but He wants me to ask Him for what I want anyway. That is just the kind of Father He is. So I told Him that in my humble opinion the very most perfect little boy would be Down Syndrome and HIV+. “Pleeease God…. but You always chose best so we’ll go with what You say”
Our updated home study approved us for five children ages 0-16 years old and any special needs specifically addressing HIV+. (might as well cover all our bases) There were no little HIV+ baby boys waiting in care to be referred. I kept praying and trusting God would bring the child (or children, remember I was given two names) in time to be added to our case with Edelawit. The agency director said she thought there just wasn’t much of a chance an HIV baby would come into care and be able to be referred with Edelawit. We knew we wouldn’t wait and stall Edelawit’s adoption. That would not be fair to her. As the weeks passed we were compiling our dossier and waiting to hear news of a baby. I kept looking at other kids, older kids. Thinking that if there wasn’t a chance we could adopt a baby then we should just go ahead and get another older child or two. I felt the Lord telling me (and Mike!) to wait till August 4th. This is a very important day for our family and a story for another day. On August 4th I was asking Mike and our agency about adding two older HIV kids…..and just then I got an email saying a tiny baby boy had been brought into care and he was HIV+. If we wanted him he was ours! His paperwork wouldn’t be ready for a month but the timing would work out. Okay, so he wasn't HIV+ and Down Syndrome but I thought he was perfect anyway. Smile. Our baby is at AHOPE. His Ethiopian name is “Assefa” which means “God as multiplied our family”. Yes, He sure has!
For their precious children’s privacy Ethiopia does not allow photos of referred children until after adoption is finalized in court. Here is a photo of our symbol of them though. I bought these at
Target the day after we started this adoption. I thought we’d be adopting three kids and wanted three little lambs…but they only had two left. **Mike says it is because we are only adopting two. Only two right now though AAI. Our agency director said that it would be pushing it to adopt three unrelated children t one time with our large family etc…Maybe we will meet and fall in love with someone (#3 lamb?) when we are there visiting. It is very dangerous to visit those orphanages and meet the 100s of beautiful children pinning away for a mommy and daddy. These two lambs sit on the kitchen window still to remind me to pray for our two newest little lambs waiting for us in Ethiopia.
Here is a photo of Mike and I on the day our dossier went to Ethiopia. We have our children’s referrals and our paperwork is all in Addis and moving through the system. Now we wait to hear about being assigned a “Group” and getting a court date.
Julee
ready to be in Africa
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6 comments:
This is such a beautiful story. I wish you a safe trip and hope everything goes smoothly for your two new little ones to be with you soon.
Julee thanks for sharing your stories!!! Have a GREAT trip, I can't imagine going away ALONE! What will that be like?!! And getting to see your children who are waiting. Ah, what a joy. Can't wait for more updates!
Congrats! We've been following your journey for a while. Our brother-in-law died of Aplastic Anemia on the same day as Johnathon. He was 25 years old and had a transplant in January. Our twins from Ethiopia have been home a month. Keep posting! I'm enjoying your updates. Have a great trip!
I am so happy for you all.
Julee, we'll keep you and Mike in our prayers. Oh what an exciting time! I'm so glad you'll be able to meet your new babies! Can't wait to hear more news...
I just hopped over from Sierra Forstrom's blog about adopting. I'm just getting my feet wet with all of this, and would love any suggestions you have about agencies. A lot of blogs I've read mention AWAA, but I also know that a bigger corporation isn't always better. Thoughts???
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