A long day.....A Step closer, but not exactly.

Today didn't go as planned. After receiving our fingerprint approval and I-171H Form from USCIS, we (since living so close to our agency) decided we would head downtown for a fun "state certification" day. By the end of the day, my plan was to drop of the complete certified dossier so that it could be sent to D.C. at the end of the week in hopes that next week we would be a waiting family. I was so excited.....

But after having to do some forms, and notarizing more forms while downtown, and then realizing that our birth cerificates had to be state certified and Chris' isn't from the state of Missouri, I got discouraged. We had to send his off to Arkansas. I had read our workbook several times, but this just passed me by. I thought we were certifying the entire thing here in MO and I could have had this sent off during these last 5 weeks while I had been waiting so patiently for the form (haha). I was kind of more mad at myself than anything. So needless to say, we were unable to drop off our dossier at CHI today and Lord willing (if the state of Arkansas is cooperative) then perhaps it will get dropped off next week. But at least we have 22 Missouri state certified documents and that tedious job is completed.

Also, while that job was getting done....our hopes were to eat at an Ethiopian restaraunt. We have not tried any Ethiopian cuisine yet, and thought this to be the perfect opportunity. Except that one wasn't opened during lunch hours, one was very pricey, one had poor reviews and the final one was clear across the city. We chose to go to the one clear across the city, since we had a few hours. Well we put in the address into the handy dandy GPS, and lo and behold there was no such address when we drove all the way there, no building even with that street number. We didn't get to eat at a Ethipian restaraunt! Ugh!!!!

Still other things to be grateful for: 3 different lovely friends each took one of my children home for the afternoon. Had we done all that running around with children, it would have been more miserable. Thank you friends. Also, we have the dossier fees covered with the 5K and 30 mile runs that were on Chloe's behalf. We are hoping to hear about one grant in the near future (so please say an extra prayer that we might get it) that would then be a chunk of our referral fee. People continue to ask how things are going. We are grateful for all the prayers & support of friends and family. I am VERY grateful for my VERY supportive husband. Chris let me vent a little and then encouraged me as well. I am so glad we are on this journey together and that we are not alone....Most of all thanks be to God the author and perfector of our faith and the One who holds the universe. (Love 33 Miles new song!!!)

While Im Waiting

Warp speed halted......

So I have had a few people ask me where we are at and thinking they haven't heard anything in a while in regards to our adoption. When you fly at warp speed for 4 months and then come to an abrupt stop---it does seem wierd. I believe this will be the first of our many "waits".

You can always check out our "Adoption Timeline" at the top of the blog to see where we are at. Everything went so fast at first, but now we are waiting on our fingerprint approvals and the all important form that says we have been approved to adopt by the US government. I had a dear friend whose turn around from being fingerprinted to getting this form was 8 days---so of course I was thinking that would happen for us too. Everything else seemed to go so fast. Then I got on our Yahoo group of those adopting from Ethiopia to survey their wait times. It was anywhere from 3 days to 12 weeks! I find that to be a frustratingly large window. Each day I go to the mailbox hoping that paper is in there. (Sort of like waiting for the positive sign on a pregnancy test when you have been trying). We were fingerprinted exactly one month ago--so it has only been 4+ weeks....but I can see where the waiting game can begin to drive a person mad. I can only imagine what that is going to be like in the future as we truly get on the waiting list.....I have friends whose hearts are ripped out of their chest waiting on certain approvals, referrels, court dates, and traveling. Anyways, I had got my hopes up thinking we would be a waiting family by the end of May, then I thought well for sure by Father's Day, and honestly....I am hoping by the time the school year starts we will know what number we are on that list.

So to clarify, once we get this long awaited approval, our already completed dossier will be state certified and then sent to D.C. to be authenticated and THEN we will be officially a waiting family. Then we get to really WAIT as God and the Ethiopian govt./our agency matches us with our little girl. At some point we will receive a referral for us to say yes to---this could be anywhere from 4 months to 12 months. Then we get to WAIT for a court date, WAIT to travel to meet her for the first time, and finally come back home and WAIT for our reconciliation date where we go back to Ethiopia a second time to bring her home. Hope that clears up where we are in the process.....

Encourage me to worship while I am waiting. Here are the lyrics to what is sure to be my mantra for the next year or so....

Video

Thanks for listening & praying & hoping & wishing......

I'm from Joplin....

It has been 2 weeks since the Joplin tornado. And even though I have not lived in Joplin for over 11 years--it still hit me very hard. I know it is ridiculous to even think I have an inkling of an idea of what the survivors went through---but to see my hometown be described as a war zone and to hear the stories of friends affected and not be able to do anything about it leaves me feeling helpless. I know, I know praying is the best thing you can do---but at times it doesn't feel that way. I hope to make it down to Joplin this summer, but I couldn't just immediately make it down there b/c of my mommy responsibilities. But anyways, I have had more than one person show concern about how obsessed I was the week following the tornado. Which was true, I sat at facebook to simply read the new status' as they came---somehow doing that made me feel a part of it somehow. I did even have a friend even use the word "jealous" of Joplin---obviously she would never wish this to happen, but she too could see how the community, the churches, and the people were coming together and working together in an amazing way and how God is using a tragedy to bring good to the area. It would be cool to be a witness to what is going to go on in the Joplin area churches. The community strength and unity is amazing and again I loved reading about it online as well as the testimony to God's faithfulness in several friend's lives.

So funny story, I got pulled over on Wed. after the tornado here in Washington, MO. That was the first day sirens had gone off in our town since the tornado and there were tornado warnings in the nearby town. Eden was stuck at school and most parents got a phone call that explained they were keeping the students at the school rather than sticking them on the bus---but we lived close enough that I figured we could pick her up and get home in time before the storm made it our way. (Not to mention Eden on the previous Friday had watched Tornado Alley at the omnimax theater on the Science Center field trip and I figured she would be a bit nervous regardless of the previous Sunday's events). So I rush out of the house, get caught speeding, and explain to the cop "I am trying to get to my daughter before the storm, buses aren't running and I'm from Joplin"--trying to explain my obvious anxiety and speedy behavior. The cop went to run my license and from the back seat my Eli yells "You aren't from Joplin!" and I am arguing with Eli that I am. It was kind of funny. Anyways, even though I didn't live through the storm and don't live in Joplin currently, I thought I would still share why Joplin is so important to me.

I have lived near/in Joplin longer than any other place I have lived in my life (20 of my 34 years). My parents moved to the Joplin area when I was 2 years old. We lived in Joplin for a few weeks before my parents settled outside of Joplin in the metropolis of Alba, MO. My dad worked in Joplin and we would head to "town" on the weekends. During my high school years, two of my best friends took me to get my ears pierced in Joplin and even took me to get my driver's license in Joplin. I experienced cruising main street and my senior prom was even in Joplin. I lived in the same house until I moved out to head to Goodman Hall at Ozark Christian College in Joplin. Now don't get me wrong, I love my life right now and am blessed beyond measure. But I can honestly say, that those 5 years are some of the best memories & years of my life. The best friends I made at OCC, the knowledge I gained of God's Word and His church, the life experiences I had serving with CIY (also from Joplin), the mission trips I got to go on, and the beginning of my relationship with my husband all took place or originated in Joplin. I worked in Joplin at the college, at Target when it first opened (Fall 1997?), and at CIY. Can you remember Joplin peeps when there was no Target? I have pictures engrained in my head from a mud fight after the Alumni Hall flooded, photo shoots in the dorms after skipping chapel and heading to Dude's Donuts, late night karaoke party in the dorm singing "Least Complicated" & "Santa Monica", meeting CIY intern outside the CIY office as me & my fellow OCC camp teamer learned about the death/accident of the MCC camp team we had just left at conference, being on camp teams and dancing to Father Abraham as we got stuck in the hail storm in Colorado, the Joplin "falls" with my CIY interns, OCC skip day at the park, my first apartment on Byers Street, and the "Fun Park" where Chris proposed to me and a million others. Besides our siblings & my high school BFF, each person in our wedding party we met in Joplin at OCC. Those are life long relationships that are forever tied to Joplin.

My family is still near Joplin. My dad still lives in Alba. My mom lives in neighboring Carthage, and my sister although is in Arkansas, due to Lily's dad could be in Joplin on any given weekend. I would never know. As a matter of fact, my niece Lily ate at Joplin close to 5 pm on the evening of the tornado and then met her mom an hour later in Arkansas, when they were just learning of the storm. My sis took it hard, and I am sure is struggling with the "what if's"...when you don't have total control of where your baby is at any given moment. She also felt the loss of the original Pepsi plant that launched her career, her first apartment where she brought Lily home were the Plaza apartments behind Walmart that are also gone, and I am sure other things. So yes, we are obviously grateful that she wasn't in Joplin at the time....yet the sentimental value of certain places and knowing they are gone is still hard to swallow.

So...all that to say---My heart is in Joplin. I am praying for Joplin. When you live far away and you have to say where you are from you obviously claim the closest place that people have heard of....anywhere I have gone I have said I am from Joplin. Actually I am kind of eclectic--my childhood home was in Alba, my church was in Oronogo, I graduated from Webb City, and went to college in Joplin, my first apartment in Joplin, and my first home that Chris and I lived in was Seneca. When you wrap that all up into one simple statement it says, "I am from Joplin".

So now I guess I need to share this with Eli. :) Thanks for listening to my sentiments and now that I've shared, I will try not to be as obsessed online and just work at being proactive at getting home this summer. Please continue to support, pray for, and remember Joplin. Let those of us who are far away not forget them that are still there because at one point of time you were from Joplin, too.

So I am praying about doing one of these in the fall. This is my friend who I've mentioned before also adopting from Ethiopia. Will you check out their auction? Not only do you get something sweet for yourself, but all items have been donated, so it directly helps them with their adoption. You can also read her own blog below, which she is being very transparent about the auction and her need. It was put off a bit due to the Joplin tornado. Their church was highly impacted, including their life group,schools they work at, etc. I have not yet blogged about Joplin---but really need to soon. Joplin is like my home.....and it is hard to understand unless you are from the area that even if you don't "live" in Joplin the entire county& nearby county relies/is in/travels daily/works/shops in Joplin. Oh----I am going off tangent here. Anyways, I know my friend is doing all she can to support/serve her church/tornado victims and is also in need of support for their adoption. Go check it out!!!!