Happy Thanksgiving/Happy Birthday

We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for with the addition of Mari into our family. She is such a little blessing!

My aunt gave Mari the cutest little Thanksgiving outfit and it has a Turkey on the butt - so we had to get a picture of it!

Plus we want to with Cory a Happy 29th Birthday! He has been amazing husband and now he is an amazing father and it's so fun to celebrate as a family! Although I got off pretty easy this year I think. I didn't even have to make a birthday cake  because he will be getting pumkpin pie for dinner at his parents! :-)  Plus who needs a birthday cake when you have this adorable little cupcake! Oh how we love her!

AND - Mari is three months old today! I tried to grab some pictures this morning because she was all smiles, until I took the camera out. Then I get the "huh" face.

We hope everyone enjoys a fabulous day surrounded by family and friends.

The nap picture doesn't usually happen until AFTER a large meal has been consumed - but in this household it happens at 10am.

2-Month Check up

Mari had her two-month check up today, which means she got three shots. :-(

Mari impressed the doctor with how well she holds her head up, how much she likes to stand, and especially how much she smiles and 'coos'. Apparently she had a LOT to say to the doctor today and she tried to hamm it up in hopes of not getting shots!!!

But poor baby girl still had to get them. She was even smiling as the nurses came in and was showing the nurses how she likes to kick her legs. She is definitely going to be a TALKER and a MOVER I have a feeling!!!

She of course cried during the shots, but even had some smiles by the time we left, so that made this mommy feel a lot better. We then quickly stopped up to see Justin at the hospital and Mari and Justin both took little cat-naps while Heidi and I chatted.

Tonight she has been cuddling with daddy, which doesn't seem to be bothering either of them!

For her stats: Mari weighed 12 pounds 15 ounces and was 23 inches long.

And everyone LOVES her squeezable cheeks!

Happy Halloween

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.

Mari got to dress up two nights in a row to be able to hit all the grandparents! We also wanted to make sure we could meet up with my nieces and nephews to get a picture of all the kids!

2 Months Old!

I can't believe our little Mari is already two months old! I swear she is growing and changing every day!!! Here are some pictures to prove it :-)

We had to take the picture after bath time because it was just 'one of those days' where it didn't happen any earlier. Now I am scrambling all over the house getting stuff ready as I head back to work tomorrow. I'm NOT looking forward to it at all!!! But I know she will be in good hands while I'm at work!!

For this past month (since I'm very bad at blogging), here are a few things we have been up to...

Mari was baptized on October 9th. It was a beautiful day and we are thankful we got to spend it with family!

I met up with a friend of mine one evening so Cory was on daddy-duty. I come home around 11:30 to find them both sleeping on the couch. Apparently it was too much work getting a blanket for her, so he just wrapped her up in his sweatshirt. Even when I went to get her when she woke up in the middle of the night she was wrapped in his sweatshirt. Apparently she liked it though because it was the longest period she had ever slept!!!

On a different morning, I went into her crib to find her half-naked! I called Cory in to see what she did. She was in one of the sleeper dresses and apparently had her feet perfect in it and much have stretched and stretched till the top was pulled halfway down her tummy! It was hilarious and a great start to that morning.

Last night we celebrated with my dad for his 58th birthday. We had to get a picture with him and his grandbabies! We love him dearly and I'm so proud to call him my dad.

And finally, Mari has found her hand and it is the new greatest toy ever invented it. When she finds it she can just stare at it for minutes and when it moves she gets all excited and her eyes get real wide! She is also no longer a thumb/finger sucker. She would much rather just have the whole fist which usually involves getting drool from on ear to the other!

6 Weeks In Our Arms

I can't believe Mari has been in our arms for 6 weeks. Some days, it feels like this has how life has been forever, other days it feels like we have only been home for about a week! I had to finally sit down and figure out when I'm going back to work which was SOOO hard. I never wanted to figure it out before, but now I guess it's time to face reality once again.

Oh sweet Mari, we love you sooo much. We feel so blessed to have you in our family. You are a wonderful little girl. You are starting to smile at people and everytime you smile at Mommy, you make my heart melt. You are also starting to 'coo' which is so fun. You usually always fill dad in on what we did for the day when he gets home.

You are finally in your own crib! With everything being so busy and hectic lately, Daddy just never had time to set the crib up. The first night you slept in your crib you did amazing - and you still are. You don't necessarily like going down right away, but after a few minutes (or an hour) of going in your room every 10-15 minutes you FINALLY fall asleep. No worries though, because we just laugh at you and your somewhat stubborn side.

You are also FINALY letting us put you down for a while and being content. I think we spoiled you right away in New York because you liked to be held. Even if you were being held and were in a deep sleep, you would wake up about 10 minutes after being put down because you knew that no one was holding you.

I love every minute with you baby girl. I even love getting up in the middle of the night with you. Although I am exhausted, having you look at me makes every moment worth it. I can't believe you have been in our arms for 6 weeks already and we can't believe how much you have grown!!!

What we've been up to...

Life has certainly been very hectic since coming home.

Some things on those list include:

* We have MOVED!!! A whole three miles away from town. Thanks to the help of many friends and family it went very smooth! It was also very nice to have about 10 babysitters for Mari :-)

Mari enjoying her new home!

We have enjoyed many family get-together's.

 My cousin Jayme holding Mari. We are very excited for Jayme as she will be having a baby within a month!!! We are excited to see if Mari will have a boy cousin or a girl cousin to play with! It's so exciting that Jayme and I will have kids so close in age as we were always close growing up and have many memories.

Uncle Jeff holding Mari in her shirt that says "Uncle Jeff digs Mari".

* This past weekend our family and friends put on a shower in honor of Mari. There are certainly many people that LOVE her!!!

* Mari was so exhausted just getting ready that she had to take a cat nap even before the shower started.

After the shower. Her bib is so fitting (which is why she wore it that day) because it reads "Mommy's dream come true". We love you baby girl. We prayed a long time for you and love absolutely every minute.

Which is why, whenever we have a spare moment, the best thing in the world right now is cuddle time. We soak it up any moment we get (even if sometimes it is 3am).

* Smiles for daddy. Mari has him so wrapped around her little finger. I think he has already designed over four play-houses for her - and we already have one!!!

So those are a few things we have been up to lately!

We are HOME!!!

We are HOME and loving it. We actually got to fly in on Thursday and were able to surprise our parents(after much amazement! We thought the soonest we would look at coming home was Friday).

Our final picture in New York - next stop MINNESOTA!!

Mari was a trooper on the plane and slept the entire time!

The last few days have been spent holding Mari and enjoying lot of visits from family and friends!!

From Ethiopia...to New York

I think we have officially confused people in the change of our adoption. It was just a few months ago that we wrote of our plans to adopt from Ethiopia....and now we have a beautiful baby girl from New York. So what happened?

Initially when we started going the Ethiopia track - we knew it was what we were suppose to do. It felt right. Then only a few days after we signed our official contracts with All God's Children International adoption agency, we were notified of a huge decrease in Ethiopian adoptions. This broke our hearts as our 'wait time' went from 12 to 18 months up to 7 years (or anytime in between because there were so many unknowns).

After that initial blow, Cory and I had many conversations about what we should do and what we felt God was leading us to. We were both still on board with Ethiopia and continued with the 'paperwork chase'.

Sometime in May, my heart was heavy. I had so many things going on in my mind. I was trying to figure out what path we were suppose to go down. I was constantly pleading with God because I was confused.

I follow many blogs (as I've said before my husband wants to sometimes throw the computer out the window). Many of the blogs that I was following were from adoptive families also adopting from Ethiopia. Many of these same blogs then started having information on bi-racial domestic adoption.

Cory and I had many conversations about my heart, and someday adopting domestically.

Then one night towards the end of May, Cory was out one evening. I was on the computer and did a lot of looking into domestic biracial adoption. There was just something that kept leading me back to that.

The very next day - THE VERY NEXT DAY - I received a call from my cousin Amy. She was very nervous on the phone as she was explaining a story of how she had ran into a friend of hers. The friend was pregnant and they were thinking of giving the baby up for adoption. She spoke with her friend about us and the friend was interested in meeting Cory and I if we were at all interested in meeting her.

I talked to Amy for a few minutes, and one of my wierd questions was if this would be a biracial adoption and she said yes. It took my breath away and tears stung at my eyes.

That night Cory and I were headed up to the Cities to go to a Twins game with our friends. We were texting Amy to see when her friend would like to meet us and she said 'how about tomorrow'.

So we came back from the Cities the next afternoon and met with the birthmother. Since we were planning on an Ethiopian adoption, we never really prepared ourselves for meeting with a birthmother! We were completely nervous and had no idea what sort of questions to ask!

The meeting went very well and we were able to meet with the birthmother one more time before she came back to New York. She obviously needed time to talk with the birth father and they were planning on meeting with a few other families.

So Cory and I waited...and waited...and waited. We didn't tell many people because we really didn't know what to tell them. Mainly, it was a way to guard our hearts. If we were not chosen, we didn't want to have to explain it over and over again.

On July 15th, we were notified that we were 'picked' to be the parents to their precious baby girl. Since that time, it's been the fast track of getting things ready, informing our parents, doing more paperwork, and really trying to soak it in that we were soon going to be parents.

We had to drop out of the Ethiopia program because we are unable to complete two adoptions at one time. However, that work was not done in vain. Many of the documents we had to complete for the Ethiopian adoption, were the same documents that we needed for a domestic adoption. If we did not have that paperwork completed, this domestic adoption likely would not have taken place immediately upon birth. So really, it was God doing his handiwork, us following, and then him finally revealing his full plan to us.

So will we go back to Ethiopia one day? Who knows. For now, we know that this is what God meant for our family.

While we wait in New York

Many people have asked when we get to 'come home'. We can not wait to get home and introduce Mari to all our wonderful friends and family! First, however, there has to be some paperwork that needs to be completed.

Initially, even before baby girl was born, we had to have a Court Order on Intent to Adopt. This form basically says that Cory and I have custody of Mari immediately once she is born (for insurance puposes, medical decisions, etc). That form got signed on August 22nd! So a little close!

After Mari was born, there is a waiting period before the birth parents are able to sign their rights away. However this was signed on Friday afternoon as well.

What we are waiting on now is for both states to 'approve' the adoption. Basically all of the paperwork we have spent months doing, goes to the Interstate Compact office in New York and they have to approve it. Once approved, it will be sent to the MN Interstate Compact office for them to review and approve. Once both states approve this, we will be able to come home.

Both states are really good at getting this paperwork through quickly, however that can still take 24-48 hours for each step.

So for now, we wait and try to keep busy.

On Saturday, Cory, Mari and I enjoyed a little walk around a park in town.

Yesterday, even during the 'hurricane', we decided that we would go shopping! Up in Albany, it was just a lot of wind and a lot of rain. We stopped at the mall first just to walk around, but they were closing so we stopped at Target just to get out of the hotel for a few hours.

 We went out for supper later in the evening after the hurricane/tropical storm was past. Then we found out that some of the major roads were closed due to flooding.

Today was Amy's last day with us. It was so great that she was able to come with us!!! We quickly decided to drive downtown and visit the Corning Observation deck. We rode the elevator to the 42nd floor where we were able to see many of the State office buildings, the Hudson River, and the Adirondeck and Catskill mountatins. The elevator goes up at a crazy speed of 16 mph!

Once we come back down, Amy then decides to inform us that she is scared of heights! But she still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time before we had to get Amy to the airport for her flight home.

Thank you again Amy! We love you dearly! Thank you for being such a big part in bringing us one of the greatest joys Cory and I have yet to experience!

She is HERE!!! Baby Mari Joy

We are in New York, holding our baby girl, and loving it right now. Our hearts are so happy!!!

It started on Wednesday evening. We were at our friend's house helping them with their deck. It was about 10:30pm and my phone started going off. I figured it was my sister-in-law because we had been texting a few times. I open my phone to find that baby girl had been born! She decided she wanted to come VERY QUICK! I was in shock, I was telling Cory and our friends that we had a little girl - and I think everyone froze because we were all in shock!

Our friends were AMAZING! They brought their laptops outside, while Cory and I were busy calling our parents and waking them up to share the news. By the time we got back to our friends, they had airline ticket choices for us! We booked a flight that left at 9:45 am!

We scrambled home and packed that last few things we needed. I of course could barely sleep the whole three hours that we had until we had to get up and get on the road to the Cities. But we eventually made it!

We got to New York and were able to meet the birth father's mother right away as she helped us around town to get the car seat and a few other essentials that we didn't want to bring with on the plane. Then we met us with the birthfather and had some supper as it was our first time meeting him. Then he brought us to the hospital to see beautiful Mari.

Our last picture as only Cory and I

Oh she is so beautiful and our hearts just burst with joy. I didn't even CRY - which many people know how emotional I am! I think I was just in such shock and felt that it was still a dream at that point.When we held her, we fell in love instantly (even though we had already loved her).

So here is Mari Joy Sietsema. Born (on her due date) August 24th weighing  8 lb, 7 oz and 20 inches long.
We picked the name Mari because it was one of our Haitian princesses names that we had the opportuntiy to love and spoil. Then we came back and saw in a baby name book that Mari means "a wished for daughter" - so what other name could we have!!!

Mari Joy

We love you baby girl. We have prayed for you for a long time! You will be loved and spoiled :-)

What we are up to while we wait...

People are always asking us now if we are 'ready' - but I'm sure like most first time parents - are we ever really 'ready'. Yes we have some of the essentials, and what we have not bought yet we will buy once we are in New York, or wait until we get back home.

Cory and I are fairly laid back people. We were going for a walk yesterday and someone stopped and jokingly asked if we had nothing better to be doing than going for a walk. Yep we do...but we wanted to go for a walk. I like to think that I don't need to be stressed out, because some of my friends are handling that for me!

 So, here are some other things we have been up to while we are waiting.

 We go to Wyoming!! Kind of.

We were out in Sturgis/Rapid City once again this year on the motorcycles. We went up to the Stone House and realized that we were literally only 2 miles away from Wyoming. So we came to Wyoming, took our picture and left :-)

We also had a few fourwheelers in Rapid City this year and got to do some driving around the National Forest back behind Cory's aunt and uncle's house. There were some amazing views and we found this area with the rocks hovering over the water, and the perfect little serene river.

Finally, one morning we got to once again climb the bluff where Cory had proposed 5 years ago! Wow has time flown by! And WOW am I a little more out of shape :-)

We get to the top of the bluff, and find the rock where Cory had carved in "Will You Marry Me". We were just sitting up there enjoying the view (and trying to catch our breath). I looked at Cory and asked for the camera so we can get a picture again of the rock. He looks and me and says "I thought you grabbed the camera".

So - a little lack of communication.  I just can't believe that he didnt' want to go back down the bluff and get it for me! So this is the best picture that I got - but trust me we really did find the rock back!

big...Big...BIG NEWS!!!

So I've been very quiet on this blog. Trust me - there is lots to share! But I will keep this post short and sweet:

Cory and I are proud to annouce that we are...

going to be PARENTS...

NEXT MONTH!!!

There's a whole long story to go behind it. For now - we just ask for prayers for our family and the birth parents. Prayers for peace, guidance and strength - but mostly peace.

We have completey changed gears and this will be a domestic adoption. The baby GIRL is due August 24th in New York.

I don't think it has truly sunk in that we are going to be parents next month, that we will be holding our beautiful baby girl next month. But we certainly can't wait for that day to come!!! We can't wait smother her in kisses and open our hearts to this baby girl. A baby girl that we have been praying about for many months, yet never could have dreamed that we would be holding her next month!

Putting a 'face' on the birthparents

When Cory and I first started the 'paperwork phase' of the adoption - we were continuously running around, getting forms filled out, notarizations, background checks (and more background checks), recommendation letters, etc. We also had to do numerous hours of training like I've mentioned before.

Now that we are getting 'wrapped up' with the paperwork phase, I've had the chance to really think about the things in our training book.

The thing that I keep coming back to most recently is thinking about the birthparents. One of the first things we learned was that adoption is a happy and joyous time, yet also a time of loss for all parties envolved, especially for the bithparents (obviously). I know it's going to be hard for me to be experiencing such joy, while at the same time internalizing some of the birthparents pain.

While in Haiti, and being short  term volunteers, we don't have any interaction with the parents of the children that are at the center. During my second trip in August, however, the parents of one of 'my girls' showed up. All I had to do was bring their child to them, and I went into the volunteer house and broke down.

Up to that point, I was only thinking of the babies - the babies that I got the opportunity to pour every ounce of love that I had into them. The babies were the ones I was seeing face to face.

That day, I got to see the 'other side' as I looked into the parents face - the side where the parents are sitting there with their broken hearts doing the only thing they know they can do to give their child the life they deserve. Their child was one year old and weighed 9 1/2 pounds. They did one of the most selfless acts a person can do, and put their own pain aside. Now I don't know for sure if that is what they were actually feeling, but it's what I was feeling for them. It made it real for me. It gave me a face.

I think sometimes in our society, it's easy to throw accusations against the birthparents. But what we need to remember is that, while all situations are different, at the end of the day, there is a pain there. There is a loss. There is a mother who carried a child she could feel kicking her for months. There is a mother who gave her child life, instead of looking at other options.

Cory and I sit here now and picture what our future child may look like - but we also imagine what the parents will be like. Cory and I only hope that we can someday meet the birthparents to our children - and when that day comes - I hope the birthparents know that we will love that child with all our heart. The pain that they may be facing will not be unnoticed by us. We will pray for them, that they may find peace in their decision and their healing process.

Haitian Giveaway

Hi All ~

I LOVE following blogs - and I follow ALOT. So much that I think my husband wants to throw the computer out the window sometimes :-)

I've added a link to a blog that I follow quite often. This is a gal from MN!!!! She is an amazing lady with a BIG heart for the children of Haiti. She is working on starting her own 'home' for children infected with HIV. She wants to give them a loving, nurturing environment.

She is thinking of creative ways to help her raise money for her new adventure. Please go over to her website and check it out!!! She has some pretty amazing Haitian art to giveaway!!! Go quick though because it ends tomorrow!!! (Oops - I meant to get this done sooner!)

http://www.becausehecalled.blogspot.com/

The Big Questions...

Why did THIS have to happen?

Why are things not going how WE had planned?

How is THIS supposed to be used for God’s ultimate plan?

Why does God allow THIS to happen?

These are some very common questions I’m sure many of us have asked ourselves and God at some point in our life.  Cory and I ask some of these questions a lot – and we are trying to learn how to STOP asking the question. Asking the question doesn’t matter. Life happens, and you move on. Sometimes renewed – sometimes heartbroken and shattered. Sometimes you know the answer and find clarity– other times you grasp trying to find an answer so you have something to hold on to. Stop asking the questions...

Instead – ask God to give you the peace you need to keep going. Ask him to give you the wisdom and the courage to rely on him. We will never understand it all – so why do we keep trying?

The past few days (…weeks…years), our hearts have been very heavy and we have been asking some of these same questions.

* Cory’s dad has his scan on April 11^th, and we did not receive the news that we wanted. The cancer spots on his liver have grown, and he has also gained new spots.

* My brother continues with his chemo treatments.

* Today we received an email that the other little girl that we had in Haiti also passed away. Both girls that we loved with literally all our hearts are now in the arms of Jesus.

* We have struggled with ‘unexplained’ infertility for over 3 years.

* There are many others with illnesses, broken hearts, and unforeseen circumstances.

So many instances to start asking the questions of "Why" . We can sit here and yell, asking the same questions and still not understand anything – or we can move forward  with confidence. We likely won't understand, but we know that God is with us as we take our next step.  We don’t know what tomorrow will bring but we have our time right now. Our hearts are heavy…but we continue on…because there is no other choice.

The one thing that I keep thinking back to is the book Heaven is for Real. If you have read it, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. If you have not read it – READ IT!  I was just talking with my sister-in-law last night about that book. Reading it gives you such a sense of peace. A peace about dying – a topic that is often too difficult to talk about.

I know my father-in-law has been heard making the comment “I win either way” in relation to his cancer. If the Lord decides to give him many more years on Earth, he wins by being able to spend more time with his family. If the Lord calls him home, he wins by being in eternal heaven forever – waiting for the rest of his family to meet him there. He wins!

It’s hard finding out that our 4-month old and 1 year old girls in Haiti have died - it hurts with words that we can’t describe. But after reading the book Heaven is for Real, I just keep picturing baby M. laying peacefully in Jesus’ arms – with her little smirk smile that makes her look so peaceful. Hearing the news today about our other little girl passing away hurts too, but again I picture baby A. sitting in Jesus’ lap, giving him her little sassy scream and smile! Our trips to Haiti really opened our eyes to the precious time we all have in our life. Life may be short – or it may be long. We have no control – just the choice to love with all our heart everyday of our life that we have.

Ups and downs

Cory and I keep plugging away with the 'paperwork' phase of the adoption. We had our homestudy visit on Tuesday at our house and it went really well. This should hopefully be our last homestudy visit, and now we just wait on our social worker completing the paperwork. Then we will submit it to our agency, who will likely want some changes (usually inevitable :-)   - but it is better to get the language accurate now so we don't run into snags in the future!

Once we get the approval from our agency on our homestudy, we work on submitting our 1-600 form into the United Statesd Citizenship and Immigration Services. They are essentially giving our adopted child permission to enter the US. So still some running around to do!

For some clarification, we do not have a referral of a child yet. That could be years away at this point as there are still so many changes going on and no one is really sure of where they will go. Once we get all of our paperwork submitted and approved, we will get put on the child waiting list. Hopefully we will get monthly updates on where we are 'unofficially' on the list.

Other than that, life is just going on as normal. We are just anxiously awaiting for spring to arrive! I LOVE warm weather!!!

We ask for prayers again for Cory's dad as he heads down to Rochester tomorrow for another scan. Hoping that the chemo is shrinking the cancer in his liver! We also ask for prayers for the children and volunteers at Children of the Promise. They have a nasty little bug going around, and we have found out that the little girl that we had on our last trip, passed away on Thursday. Our hearts are broken... This little girl was being adopted by a Haitian couple and they were literally just days away from taking her home.

New Experiences

One of the great joys of going through an intercounty adoption, is having the opportunity to learn and try new things and really push ourselves out of our little 'rural' comfort zone. Cory and I are busy in the 'paperwork phase' of the adoption. This means that we are busy getting fact sheets, physical examinations, copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, and countless things notarized!!! We are also in the midst of doing countless hours of training. One of the workbooks that we are going through really makes us focus on the everyday life of adoption. It really makes us think on many levels on what we may experience before, during, and after the adoption while also trying to picture what our child is experiencing as we bring them home.

One of the 'tasks' to do was make an Ethiopian dinner or go to an Ethiopian restaurant.  If you know me, I was ecstatic about this assignment. I LOVE food....and I LOVE trying new food - I may not always like it, but usually I will at least try it. Many people always ask us about the food during our trips to Haiti, and Cory and I have no complaints. It's different and it's good! I mean, in Haiti, we get to eat PASTA for BREAKFAST - that is seriously a little piece of heaven for me!!!

So, Cory and I headed down to the Cities this weekend to help cheer on the MACCRAY Boys' Basketball team, so it was a perfect time to force, ask our friends to go with us and try some Ethiopian food.

We found a restaurant that was close to where we were in downtown Minneapolis. Our friends, as great as they are, weren't very sure about the Ethiopian food so we first stopped at a bar and grill for some hamburgers. After they were 'full', they were more willing to go with Cory and I on our experience.

We ordered the sampler platter because we figured that would give us the best overall experience of trying many different things. I'm sure our faces were priceless as they laid the plate down in front of us. I've been doing some looking on the internet, so I knew what to expect....our friends did not. They were looking around for the silverware until I explained that there is not silverware, you eat the food by breaking off pieces of a bread called Injera. Then you just scoop up the food in the bread and eat it. Again everyone was a little hesitant, but they were all willing to at least try it!

I, for one, didn't think it was that bad and enjoyed sampling all the different meats and vegetables. Some of our other friends also really enjoyed it....some said they were full and couldn't eat any more food :-) We also enjoyed a glass of honey wine and an Ethiopian beer.

Overall it was a very interesting experience and I'm very proud and thankful for our friends who are willing to share this experience with us!!! They are all amazing!!!

I wanted to take out my camera for a picture, but I figured I would look a little strange in doing that. If you are really curious, look it up on the interent. I'm sure it will make you all extremely hungry!!!

Uplifting News

Many prayers have been answered - as my brother Justin's cancer was found to be SHRINKING!!! Halleluiah!!! Heidi's scan also came back looking good! Now we continue our prayers for Cory's dad, who has his next scan set for April 11th!

For Ethiopian news:

We've been updated with some encouraging news - or we are taking it as encouraging news!  When we were notified of the drastic reductions potentially coming to Ethiopia, we knew some of the reasons stemmed around corruption. We also found out then that within days of that announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members were terminated.

The Joint Council has since reported that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are working at full capacity to complete adoption cases. They are not putting any restrictions on the number of cases each day so we continue to pray that their drastic changes will not go into full effect.

It also appears that new cases continue to move forward. It is still unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases, but it does not look like to be at the drastic decrease they originally proposed. The hope is that many groups will come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue. The main focus is not necessarily on the numbers that they will process each day, but in staff doing their jobs.

So Cory and I continue to plug away during the paperwork stage of our adoption.

Prayers for my family...

Today, we ask for prayers for our family. My brother Justin and his wife are both headed down to Rochester today to get scans done tomorrow. May Heidi continue to have a clean bill of health, and may we find encouraging news with Justin.

We will be praying...

What does this mean...

What does it mean...

First I want to THANK EVERYONE who has gone and signed the petition.  We don't know if it will make a difference yet- but if it does - then each and every one of you can say that you MADE A DIFFERENCE in the life of a child (or thousands o f children)!

There are still many unknowns at this point. There are many advocacy groups, including Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), working in Ethiopia right now to hopefully find a 'better solution'. This is the advocacy organization for families and agencies in the field of international adoption. Over the last few years JCICS have been very involved in Ethiopia and the result of this involvement has been very positive.    

I also wanted to share a little more 'history' behind this possible change. There are two primary issues as to why Ethiopia may be looking at such a drastic reduction, 1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry's resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option.

If the Ministry continues to plan on processing only five adoption cases per day, it could mean that our adoption would now be a 7-year process!  They will be processing only 500 adoption cases vs. the 4000 they are currently doing each year! That is 3,500 children who could be with their forever families that are now going to be living in orphanages.

Hearing this information was obviously quite a blow for Cory and I, so we ask for continued prayers as we navigate our hearts through this journey. May we have discernment in knowing the difference of where God is leading us, versus what our own hearts are so badly wanting. We are hoping that within the next few weeks, we will have a better understanding of where these changes may be going...

Asking YOU...to SIGN the Petition

Hello friends and family ~ This is unfortunately not a blog post that I wanted to be writing about so soon. We found out over the weekend that there have been rampant rumors about 'changes' coming to the Ethiopia program. What 'changes' they were - we didn't know and we didn't know how they would affect us - and we didn't want to be sharing incorrect information.

Today we received an email from our adoption agency with some of the possible changes coming. We are asking for PRAYERS and HELP from our family. If you watched the video in our previous post - it sums up some of our hearts pain. We have a CHILD that we CAN NOT get to! It brings me to tears right now feeling so helpless so we are reaching out to you. Please continue reading below...

The Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has announced a proposal to decrease the number of adoptions they will process and approve—even by as much as 90%. They are planning to accomplish this decrease by limiting the number of approved cases to only 5 per working day (they were currently doing around 50 cases per day). This change is currently set to begin on March 10, 2011.

Please know that no one fully understands this proposal yet. Our staff, led by Almaz in Ethiopia, are still sorting out what this could mean for each of the children and families that we work with. These children are their passion and they are working on the front lines in this advocacy. Also, this is not limited to AGCI. This will impact every agency and the families that each serve. This means that all agencies are working together in their advocacy making a very strong force that is working on the behalf of children and families. Currently, all agency staff are waiting for the Director of MOWA to return to Ethiopia. Once she returns they will have a chance to sit down and talk over the implications of this proposal.

To attempt to counteract this proposal, the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) has put a “Call to Action” in place. This sort of international advocacy is what JCICS does, and they do it well.  It is so important that we are all united in this effort!

Thank you again for all that you are doing at this time. You are all valued and important in this process of promoting and preserving the best interest of children in Ethiopia and around the world.

JCICS Call to Action March 8, 2011 Joint Council: Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian Children What You Can Do: 1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on! Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will post any new changes as we are informed of them. We have a lot of anxieties and fears right now... Cory and Ashley