DNA tests

Yeah! We have two very healthy boys waiting for us:) We got the results back from our DNA test just to make SURE they were HIV negative, and they both are. Thank you Lord. This for some reason is a big relief for me. I am so anxious to hold those sweet babies! Now we just need to pray for a court date and a successful one at that. We are planning to travel in early January to be there before the court date.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I came across this today

and remember what an encouragement it was to me three years ago when my friend Ashley sent it to me in the mail. At the time I had no clue how God was going to put my family together! I had been trying to get pregnant for over 2 years and was very frustrated. She got it from a class she was in, I'm not sure who said it but its so encouraging if you are waiting:

"If God bids us to wait, He has a purpose. He wants to reveal Himself to you. If He had come when affection dictated, they would have missed all the blessing. Therefore wait upon the Lord. His delays are not denials. Divine love permits pain. God knows what kind of pain to bring into our lives to change us. He is planning..."

It is so fun to read this now and see how God has worked!

Referral Accepted

We accepted the referral the other day and our paperwork just arrived in Ethiopia this morning. I keep looking at these darling faces and I just can't wait to hold them. I'm still not sure how I'll do it but my heart is overjoyed. I am so overwhelmed with the wonderful responses from people! I am humbled and so thankful for the outpouring of love in anticipation of meeting these amazing kids. I think God must have a very special plan for them to have so much happen to them so early in their lives, and to bring them all the way here to grow up! I can't wait to be a part of it.

I was looking back today (I have the day off) over the past year and all the steps that have brought us this far and all the ways that God has affirmed our path. I feel such comfort and love knowing that He is in control even now before I can be with the babies. I think I will make a story book of the journey for each of the kids. It is something that will keep me busy before we travel! I just hope that it will be smooth sailing from now until we can bring them home but there is no certainty in that. So I have two big prayers right now:
1) For a court date ASAP so we can hold those babies and get them home!
2)That the DNA HIV tests that we are ordering show us for sure for sure that there is no HIV. (they stopped doing the better test in September so we had to order it specifically. This is only for our peace of mind)

I was feeling quite overwhelmed on Tuesday thinking about all I need to do and pack but I am feeling better now, knowing that I cannot possibly prepare for everything so I will pack as best I can and get the rest once I am in Ethiopia. It will help their economy anyway:) In terms of preparing stuff here I do need to figure out what essentials I need for when they arrive, such as car seats, a place to sleep, some bottles, formula, basic clothes and diapers because my shower won't be until I get home with the babies. I want to have some things ready but most things will be able to wait a week or two I hope?

Anyway for those of you that read this, thank you! I'm not use to this blogging thing yet and sometimes I wonder who would be interested but it is nice to record my thoughts never the less:)

It happened...

Yesterday at 9:13am I got a call from Children's Hope. It was Erin who has worked with us since early in the process. Sean was already on the line (she had called him first at work) and then she told us the WONDERFUL news. After over 11 months since our paperwork was in the country, and a couple of weeks ago, changing our referral request to expand the ages because we had given up on two little ones, we were referred identical twin boys. They are not even three months old. They are very cute and I just can't believe God's provision. Last Monday I asked other families at our agency to pray for sibling referrals, as there hadn't been any in SO long (since July). Since then there have been TWO since a week ago Monday, one for the family that had been waiting a year, and now yesterday for us. Thank you Jesus! This is the best Christmas present ever!!!
After the phone call we received pictures and background information over email. They are so precious-big healthy looking cheeks, big brown eyes, a full head of hair...I couldn't be more thankful!
I was so excited yesterday but between phone calls to family and friends I had to see clients and it was a bit difficult to focus. Last night I had a hard time sleeping, I started thinking of all the things I need to do to prepare for two infants and I was beginning to feel very overwhelmed. How will I go to the grocery store? How will I feed both of them if they are hungry and crying? Oh I have so much to learn but I have never been so excited to meet these two little people. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Today I will receive their official packet in the mail, try to have a pediatrician look over their medical histories, prioritize things for the next month, probably call Erin at CHI, I have a million questions... Thank you for all your prayers. This long wait has been SO amazingly worth it. I hope we can travel soon, all I can think is that I want to hold these babies and squeeze their cheeks!

yes we're still waiting

Its been awhile since I've posted so just wanted to write a quick update. There haven't been any referrals in like 8 weeks? Crazy but I know the courts are closed and this is kind of "vacation time" in Ethiopia. So, nothing to report. I continue to wait on the Lord and trust his timing-some days I do a better job than others:) We are staying super busy though this summer-every weekend seems a bit crazy. Last weekend Sean and I were both home so we decided to hike up to camp Mier (sp?), which is base camp on Mount Rainier. Next week Sean is planning to hike up to the top so we went to 10,000 feet (the top is 14,0000)...oh my goodness I have never been so tired! Definitely the hardest hike I've ever done-All day hike up, then we slid on the snow almost the whole way down on our behinds! When we were closer to the bottom, we kept noticing the kids-how far do parents push them...when will we be able to bring our kids to do a bit of hiking?
This weekend is my friend Natalie's wedding:) I am a bridesmaid and quite excited. On Saturday after the wedding my mom, Sean and I leave for Bend Oregon (6 hour drive) to join a family reunion there...We have people staying at our house either for the reunion or the Mt. Rainier hike for the next 10 days...busy busy...but thank goodness as it keeps my mind occupied during this grueling wait!
I can't wait to report who are dear children will be-I keep hoping it will be my next post but there are no guarantees in this adoption process!!!

Thank you for all your prayers~
Rachel

A better day!

Our CHI friends who have been waiting for siblings since December got their referral TODAY!!! YEAH This gives us much hope that our request is possible. We are so happy for them. Visit their blog at http://lisaandshawnsethiopianjourney.blogspot.com/

There were 4 other referrals of babies as well! I keep singing the childrens song
"my God is so BIG so strong and so MIGHTY there's nothing my God can not do".... its stuck in my head today....

a little dissapointing

So the good news is that there were two sibling referrals in the past week, the bad news for us is that neither of them went to people who had waited longer than us, so our name is not closer to the top:( I guess we and several other families are requesting two young children or at least asking for siblings where one of them is under 12 months of age...so the wait continues and I am trying hard to stay busy. I am constantly reminded that this process of adoption is unique. I can't plan, like my friends who have had kids naturally, for 9 m0nths. I can hope tentatively for a time line but it could still be months till we get a referral and that is a gloomy thought when you've wanted a baby for so long. So how do I not get discouraged? I go through stages of staying busy, of trying to enjoy these "last months" of being married without children, of working on projects or growing my practice or knowledge in my career field...but I feel like I've been trying to do these same things for such a long time...first when we were trying (2003-2007) to get pregnant and now I can't help but feel some of those feelings of hope deferred again...I'm almost scared to hope too much because I'm afraid of being disappointed again. Soloman was right, hope deferred makes the heart sick. Sometimes just feel like alright, enough waiting, I'm ready to get this mom stage started...So the struggle continues-indulgence of thoughts focused on myself.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick but desire fulfilled is the tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

I am much better off being thankful, focused on the enormous blessings of all God has given me-those areas that I have hoped for and received in abundance! To name a few; a wonderful husband, friends and family who love me, my own practice, and now the amazing miracle of going through the adoption process with the hopes of becoming a mom to two kids who are born in ETHIOPIA! Who would have thought???And only in this time in history is something like this possible. Only with my husband's incredible faith, believing that this could all come together back when we decided over a year ago to start this process have we moved forward. And only through God's provision that we have been able to save the money we have to afford a step like this. It is a very unique and special privilege to be here to be waiting for my dear babies to be at a place in their lives that I can step in and be their Mom and Sean can be their Dad. I SO want to see my sweet husband with these kids. He will be such a good Dad. I get sad and impatient because I am so excited. I am excited about the dumbest things, bath times and taking walks and playing at the beach and making meals and teaching them. I think about it all the time, how my life will be different once they come..my visions are probably still a little romantic, unrealistic but maybe that is okay, part of the process that brings you to be a parent. I know there will be hard times once they come too but I think am learning that having children is not a right but a gift, not a stage of life but privlege for a short time. No child is mine to possess but God's whom I am gifted to raise on His time, not mine. I'm praying for you sweet babies! I hope you sleep well tonight.


Isaiah 40 says that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength! His ways are higher and better than mine! What peace this brings:)