WOW - what a whirlwind of a week this has been!!! Thank you all for being patient in waiting for an update...I have barely had time to breathe.
Well, as you know....we were waiting on T's new birth certificate and passport so that AGCI could submit our file to the Embassy. We were very disappointed when on the 7th of this month, two families from our travel group got the call that their file was at the Embassy...and the rest of us got an email saying our was not. =( We chalk this up to the fact that the Ethiopian Government doesn't have necessarily a pattern for processing these things...like they always say: in International adoption...you have to expect the unexpected!!
It was a looong week waiting for our phone to ring....Monday being the hardest of them all. We were SO desperate for some news, and even though we KNOW that God's timing is always perfect, sometimes it can be very hard to wait on that perfect timing.
Well TUESDAY, JUNE 14th - my phone rang and it was our caseworker on the other end! We were THRILLED to hear that our file had been submitted to the Embassy, but we knew this just meant that now we would be waiting for the call with the review. In adoption world, you are waiting to hear news that you need to wait to hear news. Seriously. This can be REALLY hard. Especially when you are counting the hours since you last touched your daughter. To make matters worse, only PART of our travel group got word and we were still waiting for one more family to get their file submitted. My heart was breaking for them knowing they were probably looking at another WEEK! Ugh.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15th - 8:30am and my phone rings....with K's caller ID showing up! I picked up the phone to hear a pretty mellow voice and thought FOR SURE she was calling to tell me that my princess was sick. She asks how I am doing and I tell her I am fighting a sore throat. K tells me, "Well you better get rid of it FAST because I have good news!!!" She was calling to tell me that the Embassy had cleared us!!!! "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" was all I could say through my tears. Normally, I cry in preparation for something big, and definitely after-the-fact....but in the moment I am pretty calm. I just think that after she prepped me that I wouldn't be hearing until Friday under the best circumstances, I was in such complete shock that I could NOT control my emotions! K was totally understanding and promised to email me all the dates she was talking to me about so I could keep them straight. She told me that at this point the earliest Embassy date available was the 27th and they were fighting for that one.
Just as an added WOW - I think we set a RECORD TIME of receiving our Embassy review! And even though I think 5 families were submitted the day before, we were the ONLY ones who heard back the next day!
THURSDAY, JUNE 16th - K calls me with CONFIRMED dates, and we book our tickets to Ethiopia! What a huge sigh of relief to know the exact day our daughter will be in our arms FOREVER!!!!
So the countdown is ON - the ticker is now switched...
As excited as we are, the unfortunate part of the story is that tickets for this trip cost us $3,000 MORE than our last one! We are trying not to stress, as we know that God will provide...but I would be lying if I told you that finances weren't always in the back of our mind right now. So to help cover the cost of our FINAL trip to Ethiopia, we are doing a weekend fundraiser with our Ordinary Hero store!!!
Through Tuesday, they are having a fundraising blitz, and the affiliates that make the TOP 3 SELLERS will win a $500 grant ON TOP of the 40% proceeds we get!!! So PLEASE!!! Go check out their store and their AWESOME merchandise....they have everything from clothes, to shopping bags, to tumblers, to donations for children in Africa that ALL help us raise money to bring our daughter home! Just choose "Domesticated Diva" as your affiliate (in the drop down menu during checkout) to ensure we get the credit. Then when you show off your shirt, or coffee mug....you can say that the purchase of that item helped to bring a child to her forever family!!! How cool is that?!? So PLEASE go RIGHT NOW and do your shopping....we would appreciate your support SOOOO much.
If you can't support us in this way, we ask that you would go choose one item from the store that you like, and share the link to it on FB and spread the word on how they can help us! That will help get more people to our store and hopefully help us raise enough money to pay for those tickets!!!
{And as always, you can feel free to donate directly to us by using our paypal button on the right side bar.}
Above all though, we ask for your prayers as we embark on the final leg of this journey to our daughter!!! We have a huge transition ahead of us, but mostly for her. This little lady has gone through a lot of loss in her short life, and we pray daily that God is preparing her heart to accept us as her new family and trust us to care for her needs. We can't WAIT to share her photos with all of you!!!!
Well, as you know....we were waiting on T's new birth certificate and passport so that AGCI could submit our file to the Embassy. We were very disappointed when on the 7th of this month, two families from our travel group got the call that their file was at the Embassy...and the rest of us got an email saying our was not. =( We chalk this up to the fact that the Ethiopian Government doesn't have necessarily a pattern for processing these things...like they always say: in International adoption...you have to expect the unexpected!!
It was a looong week waiting for our phone to ring....Monday being the hardest of them all. We were SO desperate for some news, and even though we KNOW that God's timing is always perfect, sometimes it can be very hard to wait on that perfect timing.
Well TUESDAY, JUNE 14th - my phone rang and it was our caseworker on the other end! We were THRILLED to hear that our file had been submitted to the Embassy, but we knew this just meant that now we would be waiting for the call with the review. In adoption world, you are waiting to hear news that you need to wait to hear news. Seriously. This can be REALLY hard. Especially when you are counting the hours since you last touched your daughter. To make matters worse, only PART of our travel group got word and we were still waiting for one more family to get their file submitted. My heart was breaking for them knowing they were probably looking at another WEEK! Ugh.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15th - 8:30am and my phone rings....with K's caller ID showing up! I picked up the phone to hear a pretty mellow voice and thought FOR SURE she was calling to tell me that my princess was sick. She asks how I am doing and I tell her I am fighting a sore throat. K tells me, "Well you better get rid of it FAST because I have good news!!!" She was calling to tell me that the Embassy had cleared us!!!! "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" was all I could say through my tears. Normally, I cry in preparation for something big, and definitely after-the-fact....but in the moment I am pretty calm. I just think that after she prepped me that I wouldn't be hearing until Friday under the best circumstances, I was in such complete shock that I could NOT control my emotions! K was totally understanding and promised to email me all the dates she was talking to me about so I could keep them straight. She told me that at this point the earliest Embassy date available was the 27th and they were fighting for that one.
Just as an added WOW - I think we set a RECORD TIME of receiving our Embassy review! And even though I think 5 families were submitted the day before, we were the ONLY ones who heard back the next day!
THURSDAY, JUNE 16th - K calls me with CONFIRMED dates, and we book our tickets to Ethiopia! What a huge sigh of relief to know the exact day our daughter will be in our arms FOREVER!!!!
So the countdown is ON - the ticker is now switched...
In SEVEN days from TODAY we will be holding our daughter in our arms....FOREVER!!!!!!
As excited as we are, the unfortunate part of the story is that tickets for this trip cost us $3,000 MORE than our last one! We are trying not to stress, as we know that God will provide...but I would be lying if I told you that finances weren't always in the back of our mind right now. So to help cover the cost of our FINAL trip to Ethiopia, we are doing a weekend fundraiser with our Ordinary Hero store!!!
Through Tuesday, they are having a fundraising blitz, and the affiliates that make the TOP 3 SELLERS will win a $500 grant ON TOP of the 40% proceeds we get!!! So PLEASE!!! Go check out their store and their AWESOME merchandise....they have everything from clothes, to shopping bags, to tumblers, to donations for children in Africa that ALL help us raise money to bring our daughter home! Just choose "Domesticated Diva" as your affiliate (in the drop down menu during checkout) to ensure we get the credit. Then when you show off your shirt, or coffee mug....you can say that the purchase of that item helped to bring a child to her forever family!!! How cool is that?!? So PLEASE go RIGHT NOW and do your shopping....we would appreciate your support SOOOO much.
If you can't support us in this way, we ask that you would go choose one item from the store that you like, and share the link to it on FB and spread the word on how they can help us! That will help get more people to our store and hopefully help us raise enough money to pay for those tickets!!!
{And as always, you can feel free to donate directly to us by using our paypal button on the right side bar.}
Above all though, we ask for your prayers as we embark on the final leg of this journey to our daughter!!! We have a huge transition ahead of us, but mostly for her. This little lady has gone through a lot of loss in her short life, and we pray daily that God is preparing her heart to accept us as her new family and trust us to care for her needs. We can't WAIT to share her photos with all of you!!!!
5 comments:
How exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So excited for you that the end is in sight! God will provide, just has He's been faithful to get your baby home!
oooooooooooooooooh MY OH MY am I excited for you guys!!!! I am PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING for your sweet little girl, for attaching and bonding and transitioning! I am PRAYING for your funding that the OH Grant is YOURS!! :) LOVE YA
WOW!!! How exciting!!!! CONGRATS! This has to be a complete whirlwind.
God will definitely provide. He always does. I will keep you guys in our prayers for sure! Keep us posted!
No wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Love this news! Can't wait to see her face!!!!!!! congrats!!!
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