12 Months Waiting ...

My friend Ashley and I have been best friends since high school. She was my Matron of Honor in our wedding and her daughter Abby was our flower girl.

Ashley has been there for me through so many BIG and small moments in my life. She lives in a different town now and has been blessed with 5 amazing children (4 girls and a boy), all of which keep her very busy. Even though we don't see each other that often, we talk to each other every week.

No one understands me and my crazy family better; no one (except Bret) knows all my flaws and loves me anyway; no one else can I speak so openly to without judgement; and no one else knows how badly I want to be a mother. Ashley, thank you for being such a great friend and a great example of what a devoted and loving mother looks like behind-the-scenes.

Ashley and her girls celebrate our LONG WAIT on the wait list, Amharic style:

There it is folks, we've been waiting 12 LONG MONTHS.

Thankfully there have been referrals since the last time I blogged. Two of my wait list buddies got their referrals this week! I am happy that the wait for them to see their son's faces is finally over! I am hopeful that our wait will be over soon too.

Thankful Thursday

I'll admit it ... I have been in a funk this week with our adoption!

I went from accepting that our referral would take 12-18 months (from the 7-11 months we were originally quoted) and not thinking of our adoption every waking moment; to feeling like it could be any day; to now feeling like it's an eternity away again. All of these thoughts have taken place over the course of two weeks - talk about a roller coaster!

Why the sudden change of heart? Well, on Monday another referral was given out (YEAH!) for a 6.5 month old boy and the family waited 11 months. This meant that no one under us on the wait list requested a boy, which means that everyone under us is more than likely waiting for girls. We know 1-4 are waiting on siblings but we never thought that 5-9 would ALL be waiting for girls.

As a friend recently pointed out ... 5-9 could be waiting on siblings or girls 0-6 months old. This could all be true because we don't know with 100% certainty what the families have requested but for now the signs all point to girls. All week I have been in a funk thinking there have to be 5 more girls referred before we get ours and how much longer is that going to take?

So today I am sitting here laughing at myself ... I am so flipping impatient that I have refused to see the positive side of all of this - we are only 5 girl referrals away from seeing our daughter AND for someone who started at #53 on the wait list 12 months ago - that is an accomplishment!

I am thankful and hopeful that we are closer to seeing the gift that God will place in our lives. I pray that God will allow me to continue to see the positive side, opposed to the dark doubtful side, and as always I continue to pray for patience.

Please keep us in your prayers too,

Making a House a Home.

If you're an avid reader of our blog then you're aware we've been impatiently waiting for "God's perfect timing". 

During the long lull in referrals our agency recently experienced, we decided to turn our anxious energy into making our house a home. Our focus has been to make our house more culturally diverse (art, knick-knacks, photos, etc.), baby proofed, child friendly and filled with things that make us happy. 

One of our projects was to turn these Ethiopian coffee bean bags into valances for our living room. 

I bought these on ebay.
You could make them into pillows, seat cushions, use them for sack races, etc.
( I kept a few for some good ole fashion sack races). 

Bret built these valances and I covered them with the coffee bean bags. 

Click HERE to learn how to make your own valances.

These are the finished products:   

We really like them! They're a conversation piece, kinda artsy, and something about them brings me comfort during the wait ... I think maybe it's because Ethiopia is always on my mind and in my heart ...   it's nice to see a representation of that in the place we love the most - our home. 

Top Ten

The Top 10 Reasons Why ... 

Being #10 On The Wait List Rocks!

10. We moved up another notch on the wait list. Whoop! Whoop!

9. According to our "not so official" wait list spreadsheet: 1-4 on the wait list are waiting for siblings/multiple children; 5-10 are waiting on single children so that really makes us unofficially  #6. 

8. The family that received their referral today waited 12 months. We've been waiting 11 months, 16  days, 1 hour and 30 minutes BUT who's counting right? 

7. CHI families are rejoicing! We have connected with some wonderful CHI families and it is a joy to celebrate good news together!

6.  The "referral high" is back and we love it!

5. After a 4.5 month referral drought, there have been 2 referrals in one week!

4. CHI's Ethiopian Adoption Team had good news to share! Not being able to give out referrals has not only been hard on CHI families, it's been hard on staff too.

3. Did I mention we're one step closer to being a party of 3?! 

2. A family that waited 12 LONG MONTHS to add a child to their family, saw the face of their 5 month old daughter today!

1. A child will soon be an orphan no more! Praise God!  

Thankful

Today I am thankful for thoughtful friends who bring you gifts,
"just because". 

We love gifts (who doesn't, right?)
but we especially love gifts in honor of our daughter.

Isn't this Christmas ornament adorable?!

Can't wait to put it on our Christmas tree. 

Only 53 Days til Christmas. 

Thanks friend!