"Sometimes I would like to ask God, why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it... but I'm afraid He might ask me the same question." Anonymous

Monday, September 19, 2011

13 long months of waiting and dreaming...


13 months have passed since our Dossier (adoption paperwork) was mailed to Ethiopia.
 In the past 13 months we have moved from #41 on the "unoffical" waiting list to number 3 overall as well as #3 on the baby girl list.  Our agency anticipates that we can expect a referral sometime between 12 and 15 months DTE (the date our Dossier was sent to Ethiopia 09/19/10). 
So... since we are within that range we are praying we receive the picture of her sweet face any day.

How does the referral go down you might ask?  Well... it will look a little like this:
When we receive that beautiful "703" area code phone call I will try not to pass out or cry so hard I can't hear our case-worker.  Once I settled down enough to hear "This is Caitlin...this is your referral call" I will ask her to 3 way call Tim.  She will tell us about our baby's social story, her health, and her age among other facts.  Our case-worker will then email us her picture/s, paperwork, and ask us to review it and make our decision to either:
 A: accept the referral or
 B: decline (yah, like that would ever happen). :)

THEN I will either:
A: pass out,
 B: call off for the rest of the day so I can call EVERYONE I know,
 C: cry and PRAISE GOD because HE hears my deepest prayers AGAIN,
 or
 D: a combination of all of the above (most likely scenerio). 

When you pray tonight...please remember little Aerie Paige and pray that wherever she is that she feels our love, that God holds her while we can't.  Also please remember the other 143 million orphans that are waiting on a Mommy and Daddy too. 
Then ask yourself... "How might God want to use me to make an impact in 1 orphans life?" 

If I can help answer any of your questions, please ask me.  I love to talk about caring for these little ones.

Praying for bright days ahead,
Angi & Tim    

Sunday, September 18, 2011

7630...

The distance between
Bloomfield, IN
and
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia= 
7630 miles

The distance:
Origin:
Destination:
Distance in miles:
Distance in kilometers:


Direction to Destination:
Bearing in degrees to Destination:
Long way for us, but easy for God...
Angi

Friday, September 9, 2011

Pray for Somalia

We received this email from World Vision concerning the famine in Somalia:



 Dear Sponsor,

I'm writing today with a different kind of request. Would you take a few minutes to pray? Here's why: There are 750,000 people who could starve to death in the next four months in an area of Somalia that aid agencies have not been able to reach.

This situation is horrific and avoidable. Families are walking 100 miles in search of aid, and often only the strongest survive the journey. In many cases, women are burying their children on the side of the road as they flee. This tragedy breaks my heart.

In the middle of the famine, in South-Central Somalia, we aren't even able to reach these starving children. World Vision had deep, long-term community relationships in Somalia since 1992, but we were forced to leave this part of the country in 2010. Armed groups demanded most aid organizations leave.




Somalis are fleeing violence and hunger.
In her escape, Gaalo Adan Ali lost two children to starvation.
She prays her 6-year-old son Khaleed won't die, too.


It is horrible knowing that we have been prevented from rescuing starving people.
 Our work elsewhere in East Africa is saving lives, where we are distributing
therapeutic food for children, clean water, sturdy tents, and essential medical care.

You can imagine the needs of a family who has walked for days without food and
 very little water, a mother and a father who have just buried their children. The
needs there are great. Yet governments and private donors have provided less than
 half of what the world needs to adequately respond.

Please pray.

We need safe access to help starving people. We need the resources to adequately care for the half million people now in overcrowded refugee camps. To achieve this, we need a breakthrough.

Please join us in prayer that World Vision and other aid organizations would be able to access the regions in Somalia where three quarters of a million people could starve to death. And pray for the financial resources to complete this job. I know that with your prayer, we can do this. "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'" — Mark 10:27 (NIV)

In prayer with you,


Rich Stearns
President, World Vision U.S.

P.S. You can also
visit here for prayer resources and more information.

Praying,
Angi & Tim

Friday, September 2, 2011

Viola's new clothes



Kids everywhere LOVE new clothes.  In Viola's case she now has more than one outfit to choose from.  Viola (our Ugandan sponsored daughter) is the older girl and Rittah is her little sister. 

If you do not sponsor a child PLEASE consider it. 
Go to www.compassinmyheart.blogspot.com
to learn how you can sponsor a sweet child like Viola or Rittah for only $100.oo a year.

Thank you God for blessing us so we can bless others,
Angi & Tim

Current time in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

Adoption Time-line

02/02/10- Ethiopia adoption application & fee sent.





02/17/10- Accepted into America Worlds Ethiopia Program!





02/20/10- Paid initial AWAA program fee.





Start paper chase...



03/02/10- Ordered our birth certificates.



03/02/10- Spoke w/and chose GLAD as Home-Study Agency.



03/03/10- Got Angi's employeement & life ins. verification.



03/04/10- Received Tim's birth cert. in mail.



03/04/10- Went to courthouse, got Marriage Cert.



03/05/10- Received Angi's birth cert. in mail.



03/05/10- Scheduled Tim's phys. letter doctor appt.for 3/8



03/08/10- Mailed GLAD application letter & fee.



03/10/10- Ethiopia made big change- 2 trips required now.



03/11/10- Rec'd GLAD/AWAA Post Placement Agreement.



03/11/10- Rec'd Tim's Health/Life Ins. letter.



03/12/10- Jack & Annie rabie shots/Home Study Requirment

03/13/10- Rosie & Sara rabie shots.



03/21/10- Began Hague on-line required training course.



03/22/10- GLAD beginning our background checks.



03/22/10- Our HIV tests and Tim's HEP B blood draw done.



03/23/10- Tim's TB Test scheduled for 3/30/10.



03/25/10- Notary notarized all paperwork we've collected.



03/26/10- Kyla, our social work came for 1st & 2nd home visi



03/26/10- Adoption Tax Credit raised to$13,100.00! Go God!



03/27/10- Kyla finished 3rd Home Study visit.



03/27/10- Finished family photo pages.



03/30/10- Tim rescheduled TB Test until 4/6/10.



03/31/10- Picked up Tim's HEP B test results.



04/02/10- Received Archie's referance letter.



04/06/10- Tim had TB test placed.



04/06/10- Angi got bloodwork records.



04/06/10- Re-did Financial Statement/faxed to AWAA.



04/09/10- Tim's TB test results- negative :)



04/10/10- Completed Hague On-line training course.



04/10/10- Dog vaccines done.



04/20/10- Faxed Florida CPS request to FL today.



05/03/10- Had our physical visits today.



05/26/10- Angi's bloodwork drawn.



05/28/10- Angi's bloodwork result- normal.



05/28/10- Tim's bloodwork drawn & normal result.



06/01/10- Our 14th Annivesary- Renee notarized physicals!



06/07/10- Picked up our physicals & faxed to GLAD/AWAA.



06/07/10- Found out GLAD rec'd FL CPS checks 6/4/10.



06/07/10- Requested Dr. letter for Angi.



06/10/10- Picked up & faxed Dr. letter to AWAA.



06/10/10- Waiting for AWAA to approve Home Study.



06/15/10- AWAA read Home Study & requested corrections.



06/23/10- GLAD corrected and sent H.S. back to AWAA.



06/24/10- AWAA approved our Home Study!



07/01/10- Got money order for final GLAD payment.



07/01/10- Met Klya/GLAD in Vincennes, got final HomeStdy



07/02/10- Mailed I-600A application & fee.



07/09/10- Renee notarized rest of Dossier paperwork.



07/09/10- Sent 2 papers to IN State Dept.for Authentication



07/12/10- Fed-Ex package received at IN State Dept.



07/13/10- We rec'd Authenticated papers in mail!



07/14/10- Rec'd Immigration Fingerprinting appt for 8/9/10



07/23/10- Went early-Immigration/Indy. for fingerprinting.



07/26/10- Called USCIS & left msg for Immigration Officer.



07/29/10- Officer Opfer called, USCIS back-logged 3 weeks.



08/05/10- Rec'd I-171H today!Thanks Officer Opfer-speedy



08/06/10- Renee notarized new MOWA letter & I-171H.



08/06/10- Got Cashier's check to go with Dossier.



Paper chase completed!





08/06/10- Shipped Dossier to AWAA by Fed-Ex.



08/10/10- AWAA received Dossier packet.



08/13/10- AWAA approved Dossier, maybe DTE next Fri?



08/13/10- Rec'd U.S.State letter stating I-600A sent to ET!



08/19/10- AWAA Fed-Ex'd our Dossier to Ethiopia!



08/25/10- Dossier arrived in Ethiopia today!









The WAIT begins...