Waiting for the phone to ring.....

Monday, April 4th, 2011

So we are stuck playing the waiting game again. This time, we are waiting for our phone to ring with the news that we have a referral (well, two referrals haha!). There are roughly 90 families on the waiting list for our agency for Ethiopia and we are somewhere around #79. HOWEVER, we are the only family requesting deaf children, which means if two children within out request specifications (deaf, 0-7, relatively healthy) show up in one of our agency's orphanages, or if the in-country (Ethiopian) staff finds out about deaf children in another orphanage, then we can go ahead and proceed with our adoption. Which would be AMAZING. Of course, the key is waiting patiently until God shows us who our children are. Which is wayyyyyy easier said than done.


On Saturday morning I went to our agency's local support group where I met about 10 people who have all adopted through AWAA. Most of them went through the China program, although beside's Paige and Anthony, there was one other Ethiopian family. It was great to meet them all and see all their precious children, but it sure made me wish my kids were already here and could have played with the other children! Seeing other families' kids can be torture because it is so amazing to see them but at the same time it is torture because you want your own sooooooooo badly.


Right now I am focusing on our Movie Night Fundraiser (for more info, email me at signingchick08@hotmail.com or check out my Facebook for more details!). I can't believe we are already into April and I really need to start selling tickets. We are watching "UP" on a huge 14'x8' screen at a dear friend's house, and tickets are $5. There will be concessions available as well. A donation bucket will also be set up, or people can feel free to donate online here through our PayPal. The plan is for the movie to start at 9pm. Abe and I will say a few words about our process and where we are and then we will show a brief video with pictures and statistics from Ethiopia. Then we will watch the video. I am really excited about this, not only because it will help us get one step closer to bringing our precious kids home, but because it will be an awesome time of fellowship and encouragement with our friends.


Overall, we are about 1/2 way to paying off our adoption, which is incredible. Abe is working full time and his entire paycheck is being put towards our adoption and I basically work 4am-10pm Monday-Thursday (sometimes 6am-10pm) and 4am-noon Friday. This is almost my 3rd year of doing this, although before we couldn't save much money because Abe was still in school. I am constantly exhausted but the thought of our two precious kiddos and a lot of prayer throughout the day keeps me going. Hopefully summer will give me a more regular schedule and then in fall I go back to this insanity for one more quarter (fingers crossed!).


That's all the news so far.....please be in prayer for our children. We don't know who they are but we love them so much. We are praying for their safety and comfort as well as physical well being. We are also praying for a referral soon, so that we can at least know what they look like. :) That would be incredible. :)


Hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your support, and I hope I have more updates for you soon! <3