Tough Decisions

I'm a bit saddened today. Gigs and I had a weekend of thinking to do after our caseworker emailed us last Thursday and let us know about a sibling group at our orphanage. This was a situation that does not match our request for two same-sex children. This was not a referral, but just a check to see if it's something we could/would consider. There would be significant obstacles to our moving forward, and I communicated today that we'd likely not be able to work out the issues and would opt to continue waiting. My heart hurts when I think of these beautiful children even though I know, in God's perfect timing, they will be united with their forever family.

Ethiopian Easter

Ethiopian Easter, which takes place in Orthodox Churches throughout the country, tends to fall after Easter in the western calendar. It is a more important festival than Christmas, since death is more important than birth in Orthodox Christianity.

Easter Friday is a day of preparation and church-going. People go and prostrate themselves in church, up and down, up and down... 101 times! The main religious mass takes place on Saturday night, a sombre, sacred occasion with music and dancing until the early hours of the morning. At 3am, everyone returns home to break their fast and a chicken is slaughtered at midnight for the symbolic occasion.

In the morning, after a rest, a sheep is slaughtered to commence the feasting on Easter Sunday. A day when people really let go, there is a release of enjoyment after the long build-up of suffering which has taken place. People often overdose on food and locally brewed alcohol (tej, tella and katikalla).

Good News and Great News

Many of our [adoption] waiting friends have gotten great news this week. Families with our agency received May court dates this week and one family found out yesterday that they should be in Ethiopia this coming Sunday! I am thrilled for everyone; my heart is full!

We have not heard anything this week about our petition, but are hopeful that one day soon, the great news will be ours. In the meantime, I'll live vicariously through my friends and celebrate their joys and share in their worries and concerns and I will learn from their processes as they lead the way.

I love that this journey provides another opportunity to bring awesome people into your life; people with whom your common goals and situations link you for life (or so I hope).

Praise God for all the good news this week and may we all focus on the amazing redemptive gift He gave us all those years ago with Christ's death and resurrection.

Miracles happen at Meiming

I joined an adoption support group recently that meets once a month; it comes recommended by my friends who adopted beautiful twin boys from Haiti and came home last fall. I've only attended one meeting, but everyone was lovely and I can see why others have found the group a great place of hope, encouragement and strength. They told me that miracles happen when this group gathers and prays for its members. There was another new family there that had just signed on for what they anticipated would be a multiple year-wait to adopt from China. They had expressed that they were open to some special needs. We all prayed that night and they posted this week, that after only 6 weeks, they received and accepted the referral for a beautiful baby girl with some manageable cleft palate issues yet to be addressed - we have the best surgeons for this specialty in the world right here locally. There was literally talk of a 3-5 year wait and six weeks later they're the proud parents of this beautiful baby (they should travel in the next 5 or 6 months I think). I'm a believer of miracles, but now I'm convinced there's something to this particular group's claim. You can bet I'll be returning to offer some support to others in the process, but also to ask for some more prayer for our E Country referral to come through and soon.

And then there was one....

Got awesome news today that another of the waiting families with our agency with whom I stay in touch received a referral for their adoption. I am so overjoyed for them. Things appear to be picking up a bit these days. Of the four families with whom I've been communicating, we are the last and have no specific referral in site (see the previous post).

We did get a recommendation back from the in country coordinator yesterday and said we'd certainly be open to the age range and other factors he recommended. I've battled back the desire to ask many questions, to try to request specific scenarios, etc. Gigs and I both believe that God has a plan for our family and that it will make sense looking back - that He, with the help apparently, of our incountry coordinator, will be in control of this decision. I trust fully that it will be the right one. I'm still struggling with being satisfied with the timing, but I'm a work in progress. I'm by no means where I need to be, but am certainly not where I used to be.

Limbo

Alas, apparently we continue our wait. I heard from our caseworker and she said that she's been regularly in touch with the in-country coordinator and that he wanted her to pass along that he is indeed working on our case, but that he has not identified siblings in our requested age range as of yet. She recommended holding on a while longer before refining our stated preferences. I asked her to make sure that he is aware that we are open to hearing from him his observations and opinions - he is the one there in E Country, in the orphanages.

And.....we wait.....

I feel appropriately reprimanded

I am far from perfect and I have much to learn; this was a good reminder:

http://www.haskinsadoption.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/save-us-from-a-selfish-adoption/