Urgent prayer needed

Two of my great friends adopting from Ethiopia through AGCI have gotten some horrible news today. They have been told that the adoption of the children they have already been referred to and have been waiting to pick up for almost 10 weeks has been suspended. Please keep Sharon and Karen in your prayers and petition our LORD on their behalf. May there be a quick resolution to this situation.

God is working every moment for the good of these children and their families. He will not give up. May our God's will prevail in their lives.

Drought

This is absolutely overwhelming. Pray for this country. Let our hearts weep for them. Stand up and do all we can for them.

Please read here Starvation claiming Ethiopia's tiniest

and here UNICEF seeks additional funds to aid children affected by Ethiopia's growing food crisis

and here Food costs strain efforts to save starving Ethiopian children

WHAT CAN YOU DO?????

Fill the Cup!
It takes just 25 US cents to fill one of the "Red Cups" that the World Food Programme uses to give hungry children a regular school meal of porridge, rice or beans. US$15 would feed 10 children for a week.

1 month down

and only 5-7 more to go! I spoke to our case manager today, because I wanted to check on our parameters. I also asked about the wait and we do fall into the 6-8 month wait because of our large number on the list. That got me thinking and I went and checked a few blogs to see how long the wait for referrals has been so far. On the blogs, the longest wait to this point has been 18 weeks, although there are those still waiting for a referral that are up to 19 weeks and beyond. These are families who started out at #15. We started at #24, so we have a waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyysssssssssss to go.

Praying for those families that have been waiting so long. It has got to be hard to be so close to your babes, yet not quite there.

About waiting, doesn't immediate gratification take away from some of the pleasure of what you desire? I would not love this child any less if I had her in my arms tomorrow, but this time God gives me waiting for her can be a gift if I let it. He has changes to make in all of us, if we allow him. What can I do with this time to make myself a better person/mother? How can I better prepare myself for a third child? Don't worry, next month (or maybe even tomorrow) I will be cursing the wait.

Also, Christy wouldn't change my numbers. She said she would call next week and they are waiting for acceptances. Are these new referrals we haven't heard about or the ones from the last week? Wishful thinking, I know.

A Mom's Overture

This should put a smile on your face.
(Scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the music, so you can hear this hilarious song!)



This is Anita Renfroe and she performed at the "Women of Faith" confrence singing about everything a Mom would say to her children in a day in 2 minutes

Unofficially we have a ...

Ok, my best calculations put us at 21! Our amazing God has united four families (three were on the girl list) with their children this week. I hope to have our monthly call and update soon, since I haven't had one since the beginning of April. Then I will know our numbers positively.

Jane Austen anyone?

Take the Quiz here!

I am a Jane Austen fan! No fanatic might be a better description of myself and my love of anything Miss Austen. Here is a great quiz that lets you see which of her characters you most resemble. For any other fans out there, which character are you??????

Praise God for the referrals!

It looks like a trickle of referrals has begun. I pray that God opens some floodgates and unites these children with their families. There are dozens of children at Hannah's Hope. Let's bring them home Lord!

(I know of three referrals so far: Carrie (boy), Michelle (siblings) & Karen (girl) had info about another on her blog. That puts us unofficially at #22!)

On the sixth week of waiting, my true love gave to me...

an FDL from the mailbox. Not as exciting as before the change in process, because we are on the waiting list already, but the government has approved us! Before the change, I thought I would be like Michelle, camping out at the mailbox, bugging our mail lady on a daily basis. (If you don't know what I am talking about, check out her post!)

P.S. Did you hear? The referrals have started again!!!

Can you wrap your mind around a number as large as 143,000,000?

Week 2

I can't believe that 2 weeks have passed already. At times it seems so slow and at others it is moving quickly.

I am a huge planner and I get so uncomfortable when I am not prepared. My husband gets irritated, because I take so much stuff everywhere we go. I am prepared for any type of weather and about any event imaginable usually. That requires a lot of stuff when you have two little kids. Thank goodness we have the minivan!

Anyway, I am not good at winging it and that is kind of how I feel it will be from here on out. With the change in policy, no one really knows what that will do to the wait time. With no referral in 6 weeks it is really hard to tell. I continuously try not to limit God, because I have seem too many things happen that were beyond my expectations. We could have a referral this summer or it could be December. It is just hard sitting in a 4-8 month time frame, because that window is so big.

Waiting is weird too, because previously you have been going like gang busters to get everything done. Now it's done and I feel really lost. I thrive on doing my part to accomplish something and now I can't do anything else to get my little girl home. I just have to wait and trust in the LORD.

(On a side not, we are still waiting for our FDL, so this change in process has been a good thing for us. We filed and were fingerprinted 5 weeks ago now.)

I continue to lift those traveling in my prayers, as well as those waiting for their travel call and those waiting for their referral. LORD, you are capable of anything. Move the mountains that seem to have built up and get some children home.

Light reading

I have been doing a lot of heavy reading lately as I try to get through all the adoption material I can, as well as many interesting books about issues in Africa. I asked my friend for a "light" book to read (she has her own personal library) and she passed on this great set of novels that take place in AFRICA. They are light-hearted, very human and let you see a little of life in Botswana. They are The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series written by Alexander McCall Smith. They are a little bit mystery, but not in the sense of any other mystery book I have read-no blood and guts here, and lot about humanity. Check out the first one in the series and see if you can put it down. I thought they were positively delightful!

Dare not enter my home today for if you do..

I feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone right now. My children are possessed by some mysterious and rather annoying creatures that force them to whine at anything and everything and burst into a dramatic display of tears after even the smallest upset. Luckily, the Lord has granted me laughter at my predicament and patience to make it through this bout of sickness.

(They are both sick with fevers, so I will forgive their silly displays today. If my camera was working, I would post pictures of their absolute misery.)