Two Amazing Gifts!

We have received two amazing gifts in the mail recently. I previously wrote about the anonymous person that sent us a gift card for the grocery store so we could use our grocery money towards the adoption. Well, our friend has struck again! I was able to buy groceries and then hit the ATM for cash which I stashed in our adoption account (I keep our adoption account at a separate bank just so we are never tempted to touch it). We have one more big check to write the adoption agency and I am getting close to having the full amount. After that we will still have our travel expenses but it will be nice to be done with the big agency checks.



The other amazing gift was a handmade quilt for Gayle! My sister-in-law Jen and her mother made this beautiful quilt (my picture does not do it justice). Jen is going to travel to Ethiopia with me on the second trip so I think I will let her give Gayle the quilt in person!

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Adoption Update and Our New Number

The past few weeks have been very difficult. We heard an unconfirmed rumor that the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) in Ethiopia would be greatly reducing the number of adoptions they approve. I was very nervous. Then the rumor was confirmed and I thought my heart would break at the thought that we could wait years for our little girl. We have recently learned that the people within MOWA that made this decision have been let go and we believe that adoptions will continue at a slower, but not drastically slower, pace.

MOWA decided to make these changes because they didn't have the manpower to investigate every adoption if they continued at the current rate. These investigations are very important because they insure that the adoption is ethical. We are praying that MOWA gets more staff and changes their process so that every adoption can be reviewed but without slowing the process and making countless children wait unnecessarily long in orphanages.

During this tumultuous time I have been comforted by the other families that are adopting through our agency. We've exchanged emails, had Facebook chats and even had a group prayer session. Whenever I felt overwhelmed by my fears I knew there was someone else whose faith was strong that would help get me through that scary moment.

But the thing that lifted my spirits the most was having lunch last week with my three AGCI Texas buddies.



Kim brought her son home from Ethiopia a year ago and is waiting to adopt a little girl, Jessica just brought her son home less than two months ago and Ginny is on the waitlist like me. We are all at different places on this journey but I felt that I could draw strength from these women and left our lunch feeling lighter than I had in weeks.

This was the first time the boys had met and they quickly became friends. They had a blast running around and enjoying the beautiful weather!







To end this post on a really positive note I will reveal our official waitlist number for March. Drumroll, please . . .




Now, to really end this post on a rock-your-world positive note I am going to reveal our "unofficial" number. This is the number we are currently at on the waitlist but it is not official because we only get the official number one a month and it is the number we are at on the first of the month.



WE ARE ONLY 3 SPOTS AWAY FROM BEING IN THE SINGLE DIGITS!!!

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The Song I Can't Get Out of my Head

This cute, catchy song has been on my mind all day! It is so easy to get frustrated and grumpy about this crazy adoption process and to forget how big a blessing it really is. I have complete trust that He knows what he is doing!

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