How long must we wait???

If you do not want the ugly truth about adoption, please stop reading!!! Waiting. Who would have guessed it to be so hard. We have a busy life with 2 great children. People have said that they figured that waiting would not be that difficult for us. I must admit, we do have a great life and our children keep us very entertained. I guess the part that is so hard for us is that our lives are on hold. We had this calling to add to our family and bring two children home and now we wait and wait. It never seems to leave your mind. You always think, will today be the day. 147 million orphans is the claim but it is not as easy to embrace them as you think. As days tick off of the calander, this process becomes very disheartening. You start stalking people in the blog world just to make sense of the wait. Hoping for any sign that your time might come soon. Holidays pass with you wishish that your new children could have been with you and shared in your joy as a family. Any news about Ethiopia and possible changes makes you want to literally throw up. How many fee changes, travel changes, program changes, wait time changes can we endure before we decide this might not be for us? In my heart I feel that we are doing the right thing but with so many people waiting, would these children be adopted even if we did not? Are we truely making a difference or do we just want to feel like we helped? These are the taunting questions that cross my mind. Have we lost it completely? What were we thinking? Then I go to sleep at night and dream about our children and everything seems to be ok. Will these dreams ever become reality. I hear people say that once you have your children that the wait just seems like nothing. I long for that day when I can look back and laugh at how crazy I have become. One foot in front of the other, day by day, minute by minute - We have to make it. I must see your sweet faces. Please Lord, do not let this wait be in vain! So for now we press on eagerly awaiting news, any news! I would settle for happy news for the people ahead of us on the list. Meg, please get a referral soon. Your 14 month wait makes me sad!

Thanks for listening, not all days in the process are happy! This is for Meg, this wait can just "suck it".

Yes we are still here and NO we do not have a referral

Happy 2011 to all my blog friends. Wow! 2010 seemed to fly by in many ways and creep along in the adoption world. All in all we had a amazing year. 2010 did not lack in the excitement area. Here is a run down of the short list for 2010:

Madie started 2nd Grade
Max started 1st Grade
Officially went on the waiting list for a sibling pair from Ethiopia
We hosted 2 foreign exchange students (Thailand and China)
Chris competed in an International Business Plan competition in San Francisco
Went to Destin, Florida for Spring Break
Zoeller Family trip to Smugglers Notch, Vermont

Chris only has 2 more classes left to complete his MBA.

We will continue to keep you posted with any adoption news that may transpire. We are headed to Charleston, SC soon so maybe since we are not sitting at home waiting it will happen. I won't hold my breath but it would be great!!!

HOLY Hairnets and Birthday Blessings

Wow! That is all I can say about our weekend. I got my socks blessed right off of me. We volunteered again this year for the Feed My Starving Children event at Pathway. For those of you who do not know about this organization you can check it out at: www.fmsc.org. Chicken, Veggies, Soy, Rice, feeding children is so nice. Our group packaged 4,752 meals. This is what I want my children to understand, it is about helping others in need, "The least of these". Sometimes you wonder if they get it?? We do small things and hope that they understand. This year, I think that Madison may have understood. Once we were finished packing, the leader for FMSC asked us to gather around the pallets of food and pray for them. Of over the hundred volunteers that were there, my daughter asked to pray for the food and the children. Her heart was so precious and honest. All I could say was, thank you Lord that she gets it.
Well, our weekend of blessings continued on Sunday. Our small group from church threw a party for three children from a local homeless shelter. There were many people who came from the shelter to enjoy the festivities. It felt so nice to be able to do something good for these families!
As our weekend wrapped up, I could not help but wonder who was more blessed by these activities. I know that I felt awfully grateful to be involved.

10

Well this week marks the tenth month of our wait. Wow, look how far we have come. Hopefully, no more than 2 months more of waiting to see two sweet faces. We definitely are starting to feel like we are getting close.

So, what do we do to keep our minds off all of this waiting. We just keep up with our day by day activities. We just enjoyed a brisk Halloween up in Fort Wayne. We have enjoyed all the fall activities. Leaf diving, pumpkin pickin, pumpkin carving, a fall party, and trick or treating. Although, I could not help but think this year while trick or treating what in the world two little ones from Africa will think of people dressing up in strange clothes with bags filled with candy. From the outside looking in, I must admit, it seems strange.



Our Ninja and Eskimo

NINE - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Wow, it has been nine months since we were officially placed on the waiting list for our adoption. I must admit that I had hoped that we would at least know who our children were by now. But, God has different plans for us. I think this is the season of my life that I am to learn patience. I did not think I had a problem with this one until we started this process. Wow, the things that you discover about yourself in seasons of waiting. I am a doer, a planner, a list checker and this goes against my instincts. There is nothing at this point that I can do to make this process go any faster. Talk about handing over control. It is helping me to see the bigger picture of God and his will for my life. I feel that I always seem to have the answer and know what God has for me when in fact I have not even listened at all. I have not waited upon the Lord. So, in these past nine months I have started to see the virtue of patience as a vital part of my relationship with my heavenly Father. It is no fun being pruned but I am excited that someday, I may be a beautiful tree that brings glory, honor and recognition to the Gardener of my heart! Snip away my impatience and make me beautiful for YOU, Lord!

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord!

The good news in all of this is that we should at least hear of a referral by January. This means that the biggest part of the wait is over. We are so much closer to seeing their sweet faces and holding them in our arms.

Thanks for your continued prayer and support. We could not walk this journey without your love and prayer.

Treasures in Jars of Clay: Stick With Me Till the End, Okay?-A GIVEAWEAY!

Sharing a post from a sweet girl who has walked the adoption road to two sweet little girls!

She is spreading the word about Adoption Sunday!


Treasures in Jars of Clay: Stick With Me Till the End, Okay?-A GIVEAWEAY!: "I haven’t done a giveaway on my blog. I guess it ties into me being really tight with money.  The good news is all that is about to be chang..."

Fall is in the air!

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Well fall seems to come more quickly here than it did in Louisville. So, we thought that it would be appropriate to kick off the season with apple dumplings. This is my Granny's tried and true recipe. It brings back so many memories, the smells and the sight of fresh made dough and apples. I must say that it makes me miss her terribly. I am thankful that I have this recipe to share with Madison and Max and pass on the tradition. It was also fun passing them out to friends and neighbors. Although, they have threatened to take a petition to have me kicked out of the neighborhood, or addition, as they say here. I thought I was doing something nice but they did not really care for the extra calories. Sorry friends!

Granny, thanks for such a great recipe and such amazing memories. You will never be forgotten.


***Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the finished product. I think we were too interested in eating them. I will try to do better next time.