She's All Ours! - Approval by the Ethiopian Court

We had our court appointment on Wednesday and it went off without a hitch - except forgetting our passports and our paperwork being misplaced for a few hours!... Minor complications to an otherwise perfect day when Jessica Rachel Sitota Ryan became our daughter! On April 18th at 11AM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Judge Rahila declared that Sitota is ours!! There are no words for the deep blessing we felt when she said those words. It was very emotional and beautiful. Our Trip to Ethiopia was life-changing. Sitota is so small and healthy, beautiful and precious. Holding her in my arms was heaven. The city of Addis is like nothing I've ever seen before. Even looking at the pictures, we don't feel like we can really communicate what it was like there. Beautiful souls living in a very poor, poor city.

We loved being at the care center not only snuggling with our baby, but playing with the other kids, too. I'm sure you can imagine how much Sarah and Nathan loved that part. The kids adored them!! From here, we wait for the Lord to get her paperwork processed through the US Embassy. Once we cross that hurdle, Ryan and I will return to Ethiopia to bring her home.

And every day between now and then I am praying for the Lord's protection over her. Every day I wonder what we are missing - the smiles, the spitting up, the kicking and playing. I definitely need God's protection over my heart as I wait patiently for Him to move this last mountain range that stands between us and our baby girl. He is faithful, loving, and mighty to save.

COURT DATE!!!!

My heart could burst!! I had only managed to hope that our court date would be in May, but it has been set for April 18th! That means that we get to meet our baby in one month. We will appear to the Ethiopian court and once we "pass" we will have our adoption decree which makes her legally our daughter (she is already our daughter at heart)!

This is huge. In one month. One month. ONE MONTH. We will meet and adopt our baby. One month. After all these years. Thank you, Lord. Your timing is perfect.

Referral!!!!!!!

I have so many wonderful things to say right now, but no words to put them to. We are totally in love with our baby girl. Her name means gift - and that she is.

We got the call that we have dreamed about for 6 yeas, (but never really thought would come)on Thursday morning. The kids and I rushed down to Ryan's office to open the email with her picture and talk to our agency to learn what they know about her.

I have never been so excited to open an email. Knowing that my daughter's face was a few seconds away was surreal. It was love at first sight for all of us. She is amazing. I had thought that I would send her information to an international adoption doctor to get a professional consultation on whether she was healthy... but one look at her and we knew that she is ours. No need for the specialist, THE Specialist made it clear. She is pefectly and wonderfully made. And she is our daughter.

I couldn't think straight all day long as many friends and family I talked to can testify. I could not - and still cannot take my eyes off her picture. I have spent hours looking at her. Crying over her past, praying over her present, dreaming about her future - mostly thanking the Lord for His protection over her and His kindness to give her to us.

Really, I am out of words. So much has happened in two days - so many friends and family have shared our joy with us. I am grateful for all the loving friends we have who have been in this with us from the very beginning, six years ago. I have been learning about Gambella, trying to get to know the place where our baby originated. Maybe I will post later about what I am learning.

But for now, I will end this post knowing that I want so much to be able to express the joy and love in my heart right now, but simply cannot. It is indescribeable.

Golden Ticket

As soon as I saw the metered postage on the plain white envelope I knew that our I 171H had arrived.... FINALLY! It had quite a journey getting to our home, which is not surprising since that summarizes our whole crazy, faith building, adoption process. I pulled out the telltale envelope, inspected the return address and screamed! "We got it!! We got it!!"

My 10 year old scolded me, "Mom, stop. It's embarrassing!" But I could not be hindered. I am so excited and relieved to have approval to bring our baby home.

We filed for immigration approval in late November. Turns out, I could have applied in early October, but I wasn't thinking clearly and thought I needed more paper work than I did. So waiting for the not-needed paper work, I delayed applying by 2 months. Dear Lord, I trust your timing!!!

We waited patiently for our fingerprinting appointment... the first step toward immigration approval. The appointment notice never came to the PO Box. It was sitting in our house mail box for who knows how long. Ryan said we were lucky we didn't miss the appointment. Dear Lord, thank you for your timing.

We were fingerprinted on Dec. 21, 2011. I was hoping for the I171 H to come before my birthday in mid-January. But that week my agency called and asked if we had heard anything and suggested that we look in to why it hadn't come. I contacted the officer working on our case on Jan. 17th. She had mailed a "Request for Evidence" notice to us because when I sent the application, I enclosed an outdated Homestudy from 2009. I was astonished and so disappointed in myself. Dear Lord, you are Ruler of the World and Father to the Fatherless, I trust you.

The amazing thing in all these delays is that there was not ONE referral for a baby girl over those months.

I mailed the correct Homestudy overnight. Checked the delivery confirmation. It had arrived. But for 3.5 long weeks Ryan and I worried that it had gotten lost in the mail, or still wasn't the right paperwork - or that we had just been put at the bottom of some pile. No one from USCIS would return my phone calls. All I could do was pray.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15th before I opened the mail box, I prayed. And there it was!! Yes, Lord!! THANK YOU!!!

I called our agency who congratulated me and said that the I171H is our "Golden Ticket". Our OK from our government to give one child a family, love, proper health care, 3 meals a day, a cozy bed, shoes.

Half way around the world, there are millions of orphans. I am reading a great book called "My Family, A Symphony" by Aaron Eske. In it, he says that UNICEF estimates there are 132 million orphans world wide (there are 80 million children in the US total). He goes on to say "Not every child is destined to win a golden plane ticket and escape poverty in faraway places. Only 0.0003 percent will, that's three in a million. International adoption is a wonderful option for these lucky few, but the millions of others left behind need options too."

There are not nearly enough Golden Tickets.

And my favorite quote at the end of the chapter says, "As I see it, the world will have passed the ultimate equality test the day international adoption becomes obsolete in every nation, when each country has the resources and systems in place to help its families and communities care for all their kids."

Oh, Dear Lord. Father of the Fatherless. Give me passion for your children, the orphans. Thank you for the gift of softening our hearts to the desire to adopt and giving us strength to persevere through these years of the adoption process. To you be the glory.

Dossier - CHECK!

Our adoption agency has given us the OK on our dossier! We did our fingerprinting for immigration approval... Once we get that precious "I-171H" in the mail we are ready for a referral! It just so happens that we are #1 on our waiting lists (after many months of being on hold and creeping up the list). So we will be the next from our agency to recieve a referral for a baby girl! I cannot believe that I have the honor of claiming that. We have waited for so long - and so have many, many others. Reaching the top of the list feels like a miracle. But, in truth, getting through everything that come between now and and having our baby home is the real miracle. Please, Lord, bring our baby home.

Following the Lord's Lead and Diving Back into Dossier Prep!

A lot has transpired since my last post. Ryan and I spent many nights talking and praying about whether the Lord wanted us to continue with our pursuit of the adoption. It was scary or me to consider becoming a mom of 4! I wondered if we had everything we need for the job. The answer came to me very clearly... No! We don't have everything, but the Lord does and He is a generous provider!

So, with confidence in Him and Him alone, we are joyfully moving forward! The first thing we did was to have a 2 hour (!) phone conference with our agency to reengage ourselves in the process. Since then we have been very busy. We had to start over with our dossier because the old one expires in December. But, you know, since this is our THIRD time doing it, I'm a pro!! I have collected almost all the documents in a few weeks! We have had our home study update completed as well. So the last big milestone is the I17H (US Government approval to immigrate an orphan). Once that is complete, we are eligible to recieve a referral!!!

Have I mentioned that we are top on our lists? So when all the paperwork is complete, we will be the next family to get a referral! We are hoping to adopt a girl who is as young as possible. The thought is to maintain birth order, and Anna is only 6 months old.

The rough time line is:
- End of November: Finish our paperwork, including our I171H
- In God's Timing: Get a referral (there is no way to predict when one will come in...)
- 2 Months after we get our referral: Travel to Ethiopia to meet our baby and have a court hearing where we get the Ethiopian government approval.
- 3 Month after the first trip: Travel to Ethiopia to bring our baby home!

Total Estimated Time Until She's Home: 8 to 12 months (or again, in God's perfect time)

If anything was every worth the wait, it's HER!!

The Number We've Been Waiting For.... ONE!!!

I am in disbelief. For all the times I imagined finally getting to number one on the waiting lists (we are on 4), I never thought I would feel the way I do. Anna is 4 months old, a constant reminder of the grace and love of God. Having her is refreshment to my soul... and it causes my mind to wonder if God still intends for us to adopt. Finally at number one an all four lists, and just confused...

But I can feel the Lord moving in my heart. I can sense Him coming near. Is that Him I hear reminding me of the eternal blessing of children? Is that Him whispering that my family is qualified, despite my doubts? Is that Him encouraging me to trust Him with the fears and worries of what could go wrong?

I'm trying to listen.