A piece of my heart is so far away.....

Where do we even begin?  I will update with some daily Ethiopia journaling soon (maybe in a week or so once school starts).  We have one full week before school, which includes school shopping (since we have been preoccupied), a little boy turning 8 years old---(I guess that is not so little) :(, and another little boy starting Kindergarten.  agh!!!  (Let the water works begin!)  Today has been such a blessed day (albeit a little tiring) to be reunited with our 3 big kids and love on them.  9 days is a long time to be away.  Tobe said, "I was starting to forget this place."  (our house!)

Meanwhile, a piece of our heart is in Ethiopia.  This part of the wait is supposedly the hardest.  I don't know that yet, I am sure it will be.  I am still suffering from jetlag (i.e. it is 5:30 am and I'm up--which NEVER happens).  But I do know that she is so loved where she is at and is being taken care of until we return and that makes it easier.  Also, knowing I have LOTS to do in the next 5-8 weeks like all things mentioned in paragraph 1, as well as bedroom remodel of the "sisters" room, and sadly me being one more year closer to 40!  I am to the point that I am forgetting what age I am.  LOL!

Some people are still confused.  Chloe is not home.  This process is long and hard.  Every country, every program a bit different with lots of processes and bureacacy.  And it is ever changing.  It has changed multiple times while we've been in the process, and is about to change again (thanking God we beat that deadline).  Chloe is a Strickland according to Ethiopia.  But now we must wait for the US Embassy to say "come back-- she is cleared to immigrate into the USA".  So we wait.....this can be anywhere from 5-10 weeks.  Hopefully shorter. 



So pray as we wait (our final wait!!!)  to go back.......and I promise to post some of our Ethiopian adventures soon-----as most of you know....we have "some".

Why Am I Surprised? {and kind of a HUGE clarification}

 

¹² When this had dawned on him[Peter], he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

{Acts 12:12-16}

 

Interesting story from Acts.  Here the church is praying, God answers quickly and miraculously, and the people are like "Say What?"....sound like anyone?  ME!  I cannot  believe that we have a court date exactly one month after our referral date.  I prayed for it, I asked you to pray for it, I knew God could do it,and I said He could do it out loud.  But, even still when things were moving along, I was a bit taken back.  We had heard rumor that courts were closing Aug 6th (not even sure if this is true or not)---so my thought was that God would just prolong the court closing for a week or two so that we could still sneak in. {Insert here: His ways are not my ways!(Isaiah 55:8)}  Instead, Chris & I witness the fastest to date (at least in the 2.5 years I've been on our agency's email list) referral to court!!! 

 

THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR  PRAYING!!!  THANK YOU FOR BEING THE CHURCH!!!

 

Now what?? We head to Ethiopia to meet Chloe in person this week.  We will get to meet her, the wonderful nannies that have been caring for her, we will experience and enjoy where she has lived the first 15 months of her life, see where she stayed, and soak up Ethiopian culture.  We get to worship God on Sunday in Ethiopia.  Then we will stand in front of a judge and say "YES!" to Chloe.  Hopefully at this point, the judge will declare her our daughter and then we will be able to introduce publicly the newest Strickland.

 But here's the bad news--I know many of you know this, but to clarify for those that don't--  We do NOT get to bring Chloe home yet, the hardest part of the wait (as if I thought 24 months was hard) will be when we leave Ethiopia without her.  We will come home, she will continue to be loved on by her nannies and we will pray again for the quick turnaround for Visa processing and our US Embassy saying we can come back and bring her home. 

 

PRAYER NEEDS:

1) Please pray for our safety, health, and smooth traveling.  It has been such a whirlwind, a bit crazy, pray I pack everything we need and that our stomachs stay well.  :) 

2) Please pray for our big kids here with family friends.  Being away from Eden, Eli, & Tobe while on a completely different continent and 8 hours ahead will be a bit different.  Just pray they also stay healthy and that the families they are with are blessed for their sacrifice to our family. {We LOVE you!}

3) Pray for Chloe.  Pray for her health and continued safety.  Pray for the House of Hope, the transition home she is in now. Pray for all the transition that she is going through and has gone through.  Our daughter has been through so much in her short life and that cannot be forgotten.  Adoption is beautiful and redeeming, yet it is born out of tragedy, loss, and grief.  We are not sharing all of Chloe's story to every person.  But if you read this blog here you will read similarities and some of the possible struggles that Chloe has gone through and will go through.  (I will post more on this before bringing Chloe home---but for now this is a good starting point---and for all I know may not be us at all, but the orphanage visitors is a fact and a definite issue we will deal with).
4) Pray that in all things God gets the glory.  He has answered prayers in mighty ways and is continuing to work all things out.  He cares for the orphan, He cares for the lonely, He cares for families, and He cares for YOU!  Praise God for the things He has done. 



"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

{Ephesians 3:20-21}

 

 

Dear Chloe, We're coming baby girl!  Can't wait to meet you, hold you, play with you, and say "YES" for you!  Oh boy and your sister and brothers are so excited too.  See you on Friday!  Love, Mama & Dada

At Last!

This song was what Chris and I walked down the aisle to once we were pronounced husband and wife.  It fit, plus it was a super classy song and Chris wouldn't go for anything that wasn't classy.  :)
As I listen to the words, it seems to fit in our current situation just perfectly.  It is a love song that fits here in the adoption world as well.  It might be even more perfect when she is home at last, but none the less.

At last, our call came on Friday, July 5, 2013.  The last day it could have come on so as to not cross the 2 year wait mark, since July 7th, which is a Sunday this year is our Waitaversary.  This is how it went down----

Every year over the 4th of July we camp with our dearest friends, the Gerdel's and Missy's mom and family.  Most of the time it is miserably hot and yet we make it fun, plus we usually include a float trip on the Meremac River.  We've camped at least 6 years---floated at least 3.  A few months ago, Chris and I decided financially we just didn't want to float this year.   So we actually said it out loud so that we would stick to that decision.  However, the Gerdel kiddos were upset that our kids wouldn't be floating with them, so we let our two big kids go along and promised Tobe a day of hiking and one on one swim time.  He was a bit sad, but then was excited.  Of course on the 4th our agency was closed, so we had a peaceful, wonderful time watching fireworks and swimming, and yet in all of our minds was the possibility of a referral the next day (and thinking THAT's why we didn't float!)  So we sent off our floating friends and after a bit headed off to go on our hike---

However, we no sooner got out of the camp grounds and into a place where phone reception actually came in and we got the call!!!!  It was so great that the call came through, because service was sketchy.  I heard our agency give a few details, then the call was dropped, we try again, and the call was dropped, finally it rang once more and I just said loudly "We are coming in!!!!"  See we live near CHI's headquarters and the entire time since we are at STL family we thought we would be driving in to see our referral packet.  We were about another hour out, but we just knew we needed to drive in and get this packet today!!!!  I tried to text Missy before she got on the raft, but missed her.

So....we drive in---see the most beautiful pictures of our beautiful girl and are just thrilled!!!  We spent the afternoon oohing and awing over her and let some family and friends in on our news, but waited to show her pic to her big brother and sister first.  Once we showed Eden & Eli (of course Tobe got to be the first), we got to share with the Gerdel's (who if you recall Missy was the one who jumpstarted all of our fundraising efforts by giving up her bday gifts and running 30 miles for her 30th bday for Chloe)......so just because God likes to put the icing on the cake---guess who share the same bday?????  YEP.  One year after Missy's run, our little Chloe was born.  Another friend pointed out, our Chloe has been along with us in this wait the entire time!!!!  Chloe is 15 months old right now, if you add the 9 months during birth mom's pregnancy---you get our 24 month wait!  Chloe began life as we began our wait!!!!!  Just amazing.  All my adoptive mom friends continued to tell me, His perfect timing (which I believed), but man I couldn't even imagine some of the "coincidences" that God has orchestrated so that I know He had this in His hands the entire time.

So to finish off our Friday night we got to make our fun announcement video.  :)  We didn't get to post till the next day because of the sketchy service.  But we were so excited to share with our church family today what God has done and praise His name.  Like I've said many times before, the church (and not just our home church) but THE church has helped bring Chloe home via prayers and funds.  This has been a joint effort. 

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10201372703498032" width="226" height="400" frameborder="0"></iframe>

WHAT'S NEXT???
Court.  Adopting from Ethiopia is a two trip process.  First trip is court and second is embassy process.  So.....CHURCH here is the prayer need.  I've mentioned before Ethiopia has a rainy season, where courts just close down.  This usually happens mid August.  Now realistically we probably won't make it to court before then, which means we wouldn't make our first trip till mid October.  BUT, our God works miraculously and ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE with Him.  There have been some that have moved through this quickly and there are plenty that don't.  Would you please pray consistently that we could make it to court BEFORE it closes?

***Sidenote:  There are rules and regulations that prohibit us from sharing any identifiable info on Chloe until she is officially ours when we pass court.  So no pictures online and her Ethiopian name will not be posted online.  We will use her Ethiopian name as part of her name.....

We can't even begin to thank you all for the prayers and well wishes and prayers and so forth for our family and our daughter.  We will keep you updated!  Thanks for listening.

Then & NOW..........

THEN-----July 7, 2011.  We started on the wait list. I blogged about it HERE
 and actually said it could be "two weeks or two years"......I said that?????



NOW----July 7, 2013.  My kids around our referral packet, CELEBRATING
 finally having a face to the sister they have been praying for!

Keepin' It Real....

May has been a long month. I guess I did skip right over our 22 months and we are a week out from 23 months.  Today was the first referral in over a month and it was also the first referral for a family that was behind us on the list. (It was a boy referral and the  family had waited 22 months.)  I sure am hoping that there aren't too many referrals behind us....cause that is kind of a poopy feeling.  (Hence the title "Keepin' It Real").  So we remain at #10.

Here is some good news:  the process after referral seems to be moving along quicker.  Of course this can be one of the major variables.  The normal process is birth parent interview, then usually court date would be scheduled 4 weeks after (if everything was in place and the birth parent interview went well).......but I know of 3 families who had a birth parent interview and then were needing to be in Ethiopia within 5-10 days!!!!  {That is NOT much notice, people!}  But that is also so exciting because if we "hypothetically" get a referral at the beginning of June and have our birth parent interview 4-5 weeks later, that means if things move as quickly as they have been we could be in Africa at the end of July!!  THIS IS OUR PRAYER!  Please continue to pray on Chloe's behalf.

We have A LOT going on with our family. Baseball, baseball rain outs, rescheduled baseball and throw in some dance recitals, bible bowl trips, church camp, prepping for VBS (oh yeah, I am interim elementary children't minister for the summer!), swim lessons coming up, etc. So the business of summer will surely be a good distraction and keep me focused instead of a blubbering mess for whatever stage I'm in.  I now have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, and a Kindergartner.  Say WHAT???!!!

                    

We had a wonderful 3rd Annual Love 2 Run 4 Love on Mother's Day weekend.   Due to some amazing sponsors (especially jacobyco---who donated the tshirts), we made about $4200.  Three different families will benefit from this and 5 different orphans (The Kramel's, The Douglas', and us).  My friend, Dianna Kramel celebrated her first official Mother's Day (although in her heart she's been a mama for a long time).   God provided a gorgeous day with wonderful weather and amazing friends and supporters.  So grateful to each and everyone of you! 

 



I have been reminded in May to take nothing for granted, to hug your loved ones often, to say "I love you!" when telling your kiddos good bye, and that we must continue to pray.  I've attended 3 funerals in May (well one is this weekend--but he went to Jesus in May).  One was after a long battle of illness, one was a shock even in the midst of a continued storm (thinking things were turning around for the better) and one was so tragic there was no way you could even imagine it coming, ranging from a 77 year old to a 2 year old.  {Sidenote:  I was blessed to see the 2 year old's celebration of life memorial service via a live stream---which was just so moving.  Blessed by this family's testimony and faithfulness in the midst of brokenness and I haven't even met them in 'real' life. If possible, please watch this small segment where the pastor shares some thoughts on adoption, both literally and our adoption into Christ's family.  It is worth the watch!}  The entire service is long as you might expect so you can just skip to 1:19:20 or so and find it. His entire message starts around 1:10:10.  Click HERE to watch.

Ethiopian princess.

 

My jr high and high school BFF, Christy got to meet up at Nick's wedding.  :)





My best friend and I on a much needed R&R in downtown
 New Haven, MO on the river.  I highly recommend it!
Thanks Missy for loving on our kiddos!

But I have also had a few praises this month after praying for years for some of them.  We were able to witness 2 weddings (one renewal).  Chris got to be a groomsmen for a dear, dear friend who now works with some of our closest, bestest friends (a bit jealous, but trying to get over it and yes I know 'bestest' is not a word).  The three funerals were all people who loved Christ and are with the angels in heaven.  One family is on their way to Ghana right now to meet their 3 children and stand in court to say "yes" to being their forever family after 1 1/2 years of waiting.  Already mentioned my friend Dianna, who the day after Mother's Day learned about the day she would meet her son and has already been to Ethiopia and back, passed court and is waiting to go back to get her sweet son {seriously, people the lashes on this boy are breathtaking!}, one of my best friends that I have been praying for the last 5-6 years recieved a good prognosis on her reoccuring brain tumor.  It is so good for the heart when you see prayers answered, even after such long waits.  It reminds me of 1 Peter 4: 12-13 from the Message: "Friends, when life gets really difficult don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job---instead be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced.  This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner."  It is good to see God's answers.  It is good to see growth during the refining process (even though we don't like it) and I KNOW that God is on the job.  He always has been.  I'm just waiting to turn the corner!