Seeing Gabrielle for the FIRST time!

We have a baby girl!!!

The call really did come!!!!!! At 10:00 this morning Duni called and said this was the day. We have a little girl, she is beautiful and is healthy and is 6 months old. We are beyond excited and can't really believe this is happening.......it is incredible!!!! Thank you God for sending us this beautiful angel.

Another day in the life of waiting and being UBER CLOSE!!

We were back to Alexandria, VA for our renewal of fingerprints appointment this morning. With the video camera ON MY LAP- JUST IN CASE, I told Pete that "the call" was of course going to come while sitting in the packed DMV like waiting area of the USCIS office. I said I was not going to hold back and for him to be prepared for me to be screaming and to potentially be escorted out of the USCIS office as a potential threat of some unknown sort. We got a good chuckle and then he remembered that we could not take cell phones in. WHAT!!!! Not that I WANTED the call to come in the USCIS office, BUT I COULD NOT MISS THE CALL EITHER---not after all this time (insert MAJOR womanly drama here)!!! We could be in there in the black hole for hours, like we had been in the past. I had this so perfectly orchestrated in my head before we left the house, as well as having the home phone forwarded to my cell, now I would have to quickly change course, because any woman out there waiting knows----there is a science to this and it must be well planned out and strategically thought about EACH and every time we leave the house. Well, nothing for me to really do but sprint to the car after being fingerprinted to see if I had indeed missed the call........I had not. Deep sigh, another day in the life of knowing we are SOOOO close and should be hearing soon.


I know I sound crazy, but I know many out there have done things like this, please feel free to share those in the reply to this post so that I don't seem really nuts! Come on, I know someone else has forwarded their phone..... :)

God has this planned and I know He will do it in His way, lets just hope I'm not stranded in the bathroom when the call comes, as I don't have a plan for this......yet :0

Things rolling again

YEAH! My friend Dana received her referral this morning!! I am so happy for them. Their paper baby travelled with our paper baby TOGETHER back many months ago, so I can only imagine how she must be feeling right now. It is so rejuvinating to hear of referrals flowing again!

Adding this later: The West family also received their referral for a baby boy! Yeah!

Congrats Cordell and West families!!!!

When God brings things full circle!- An amazing story

We had an amazing experience and gift a couple weeks ago that I wanted to share. A couple months ago, I got a call from our family coordinator with our agency, of course my heart started racing at the thought that this was "THE AWAITED CALL". I answered the phone and heard Duni say, "Andrea, do you have a minute,I have a potential referral for you?" WOW, I would have assumed that I would have started screaming and freaking out, but I really felt not a whole lot. I said, "Duni, give me minute I think I need to scream or something." All I can say is that there was this overwhelming feeling that was not settling within me, and it was a little scary. Duni proceeded to say that it was a POTENTIAL referral and she had some things to tell us. She went on to say that there was a six month old little girl, (inserted her name here), and she was beautiful, but had tested positive for HIV. I didn't know what to think. She went on to explain that we were close to the top of waiting for an infant girl and that they have reviewed the waiting families and had chosen us to be presented with her referral before opening it up to the rest of the families. What a compliment, they thought we would be a good family to handle this situation, as well as our location being so close to fantastic medical care. I was so confused, because I just felt this is not my baby, as much as I wanted it to be. I did not know if it was because she was HIV+ or because I just knew she wasn't Gabrielle. I told her I needed to talk to Pete and pray and we would call back shortly. Needless to say, the next 12-24 hours were REALLY difficult. We have a heart for the children with HIV, we had just had a fundraiser several months earlier for AHOPE and our hearts and minds really had been opened; however it just didn't feel right. We prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. We know sometimes God asks us to do things we are not comfortable with and is scary, was this one of those times? We knew we could do this, but was this Gabrielle and was this the path God wanted us to walk down. After much prayer and discussion, we just felt the Holy Spirit telling us no. I have to say that was a hard call, my heart was breaking for this little girl, I wanted her to have her mommy, but didn't feel I was her. I cried telling Duni that it was only fair to open her information up to others. I said that when she called me, it didn't make sense. Every part of my body was not feeling it. I told her it was like the Holy Spirit within me was saying, "this doesn't make sense, but it will for someone else." I told Duni this. I told her that there would possibly be another mom out there who would see this little girl and somehow it would make sense. I said we would keep asking God and if we felt him leading us to her we would let her know asap. But, I asked that she let me know if this little girl was adopted as I would be praying for her. I prayed for her continuously and she often came to my mind. Then fast-forward to a couple weeks ago. I was talking to a friend who lives here in my town and is also adopting from Ethiopia. She was telling me of a friend of hers, with our agency, who had left for Ethiopia to get their little girl. I thought I knew all of the families who were traveling and knew there wouldn't be any other baby girl adoptions before me, so I inquired further in confusion. After some more questions I deduced her friend was adopting the same little one we had heard about. I asked her if her name was "------". She said yes and I got complete goose-bumps and began crying. She went on to tell me how amazing the story was of her friend. She and her friend had gone on a missions trip this past summer. They visited an orphanage where there were lots of babies, this mom told herself not to get too attached to any one baby as where she was in her paperwork, she knew she would not get referred any of these babies. She still found herself drawn to one little baby girl, she even had her friends take several picture of her with this little 9 week old beauty. Fast-forward to a couple months ago.......the e-mail goes out about the baby and this family inquires about her. When they received the pictures, she immediately realized this was the SAME baby she had seen in the orphanage many months prior. I went to her blog in tears and read with such amazing feelings how this referral made TOTAL sense to this mom. She explained how her little girl was meant to be hers starting back when she held her in the orphanage when she was weeks old and now she had made her way to her as her daughter. All I could think was "THANK YOU GOD for coming full circle and letting me know." I hadn't stopped praying and asking that this baby find her mommy and wondering if we had made the right decision and correctly followed what we felt He was telling us. Sometimes God doesn't let's us wait a long time to show us the outcome of our decisions and sometimes he gives us this gift more immediately. He is SOOOO mighty and SOOOO powerful and He has everything in control. We learned so much through this experience and are so thankful for his gift of just knowing in the end. I also feel like he was telling us that we know our daughter already, no matter how far away she might be. The Holy Spirit within me is helping guide me to her from across the world.

Gabrielle, I already know and feel you as mine in my heart. I thank God for all this time He has prepared you and us. I can't wait to see the picture of your physical beauty, but the picture/feeling in my heart is so much bigger!

Patience

O.K. I know this is a re-do from November; however I was going back through my blog and it actually made me feel good to read this post, so I thought I would recycle it----is this even allowed in the blogging world? I wonder if I am going to get some sort of ticket or black mark, no one tell :[ So good for me to remember the idea and reasons for patience.


The Power of Patience

Patience pertains to every phase as we work through our adoptions. It could be a physical that can't get scheduled, a pile of paperwork that just doesn't seem to get smaller, that darn I-171 that STILL hasn't shown up, the home study that seems to be taking months to wrap-up, the wait for a referral, the wait for a court date, and finally the last wait is to physically wrap our arms around our babies and place our lips on their skin for the first time and give them the kiss we have been dreaming of for so long. I need to hold on to these teachings and do the best I can and pray the prayer of Patience.


"For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised. ”Hebrews 10:36


The Word of God promises that the patient man will be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. (James 1:4 KJV.) A patient man is a powerful man. He can remain calm in the storm. He has control over his mouth. His thoughts remain loving in times when people's behavior becomes challenging.

Without patience we cannot endure to see the fulfillment of our faith. Everything does not come to us immediately upon believing. There is a waiting period involved in receiving from God. It is during that period that our faith is tested and purified. Only if we endure and wait patiently will we experience the joy of seeing what we have believed for.

Patience is not only the ability to wait, but also the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting. Waiting is a part of life that cannot be avoided. We will spend a great deal of our lives waiting; if we don't learn to do it well (patiently), we will be quite miserable. God is so patient with us. And we are to imitate Him.

Be encouraged to actively pursue patience it will lead you into God's power

Pray This:

"Lord, help me to exercise every kind of endurance and patience, perseverance, and forbearance with joy (Colossians 1:11). In Jesus' name, amen."

Praise God for news from USCIS!-----AGAIN

Well, He didn't let me wallow too long in the place I was in my last post.....which was only about 2 hours ago. The adoption specialist at our local USCIS office e-mailed me back ALREADY! They have scheduled our new fingerprint date for March 25!!!!!! So, we could wait about a month after that for our new 171,which brings us to April 25th, and we expire May 9th!!! How about that for timing. So far it appears that we should be covered no matter what. I am so thankful, and should remember, HE always has it covered. Boy was I crying out to him last night in a big, messy way. He took care of us and I am so thankful. Prasise God for having it all under control, even when I lose my focus.

Hanging in there by a thread today!

Just wanted to pop a word here to say I am hanging in there, though barely at times. Really, I am doing good, I am just very concerned now about our expiring fingerprints. We have not gotten a letter with our fingerprint appt. yet, and then after that we wait for the new amended (or in our case, the amended-amended 171). I did get an e-mail back from the woman in charge of adoptions related paperwork at USCIS and she said it is a month processing AFTER your fingerprint appointment. So, let's hope things get rolling. Will keep updating everyone on the situation........

Probably some good prayer time and a good run is in order for my day. We are heading to the end of another week and I am feeling not so strong right now. I need to keep things in perspective and I always pick myself back up, but today I am going to let myself feel this and then move along.

Families Coming Home!

So sorry, I have been trying all day to upload the pictures and blogger is not working. I will get them up as soon as possible. Here is the recap:

The Ethiopian flight was 2 hours delayed......so first through the doors was the Harpolds......RUNNING!!! I heard Mel yell "Andrea I am so sorry", as she was in tears. They were not going to make their flight home. I caught up with her and we ran along side one another while we hugged and I kissed Myli's head (in the blurr of running she was soooooo cute). It is funny now, but at the time I felt so bad for them.. I am sure after a LONG week, a LONG flight, you just want to get home and to think of sitting in the airport for another couple of hours would be enough for anyone. They had an amazing week and I am sure they are SO happy to be home now.

Next to come were the Treadwell's, again running by. They were running so fast and also looked not too happy, that I did not even call out to them. Obviously they needed to rush and did not need me slowing them down.

Next was Erica, she came calmly walking out of the doors. She must have a long layover I thought. We hugged and got a tad misty. She was doing great! Abel was absolutely gorgeous. As I leaned over to tickle his face and make baby talk, he smiled from behind his pacifier. He is a doll for sure. Erica was doing really well. I think she knew she was close to being home and realized she had a really rough week. She said Abel was feeling better and actually had a great flight. This was such good news after reading her not-so-great, but honest blog posts. Rest assured YG friends, she is doing great, and Abel is doing great too.

Next was the Wegners, they also had more time. Their children are beautiful and looked so happy and in amazement. They just smiled and looked around. It was one of their son's birthday's today. What a birthday present to come home and join his forever family! Wonderful to meet you in person Wegners!

It was such an honor and blessing to see and visit briefly with these families who I have gotten to know with our agency. I look forward to hearing of their final homecomings and their adjustments. God is so good and is doing amazing things.......some of which I saw today!

Requesting re-fingerprinting date

Well, I was hoping we did not have to do this, but it is the smartest thing to do.  Our fingerprints expire May 9......so we would have to be back home with our baby by that date.  We were hoping to travel in April, I know it is still a possibility; however we are cutting it too close for comfort.  BACK TO USCIS.....can you believe it!!  So, I sent a letter requesting an appointment to get our fingerprints re-done.  THEN, we would have to wait for another updated I-171 to arrive with our new date on it.  I am hoping that this goes quicker than the regular waiting on the 171, as it took 3 months when we did it for China and about 2 1/2 months for Ethiopia.  I have to say that I am still holding out all hope and faith that we get our referral, get a court date quickly, with success and we can get there and back by this date.  We still have 2 months, so have hope and faith with me!!!!!  Even though this seems daunting, I feel pretty upbeat about it all.  

A fresh new week!

With each new week brings a refreshed spirit and the hope, yet again, that the call may actually come. I had a very emotional weekend (just when I thought I had it all under control); however God must have seen that I needed a little more of something. I avoided people at church this morning knowing, for the first time through this whole process, that I would not be able to answer their questions and would need to politely tell them I could not talk about the adoption. The service was just what I needed and felt great afterwards until a friend approached, who is also adopting from Ethiopia, and asked how I was doing. She noticed I didn't look like myself. I burst into tears and felt like they would never end. Also was doing the solo thing this weekend as hubby was away, so there I stood an emotional mess. What better place to do this than in church I suppose. Anyway, my friend was so sweet and I pulled myself together. DARN, I get so upset with myself when emotion flies out like that when I didn't even know it was coming. Oh well, thus the journey continues. Tomorrow will bring a renewed sense of hope that the call will come this week and I will get to see the little face, the little person who has engulfed my heart with her spirit!

Also, many dear friends of mine are IN ETHIOPIA as we speak, or as I type/you read. M. Harpold and E. Treat have become family to me and I am praying for their wonderful gotcha days and first meetings with their angels. I will also be meeting them at the airport next weekend, so look for pictures of them and their new babes! Praying for their health, safety and that God shines on them during their time with their children there. You can follow their journies too as they are both blogging while there. They are listed in my Blogroll. Also, check out the Wegners, McIIrath's and Treadwell's as they are there too.