Announcement!!!

It is time to share some news; Matt and I have made a big decision and we are changing the direction of our adoption.  In all honesty, God has opened a door along this journey that we didn't expect and we are stepping out in faith that He will continue to see it through and lead us to our child.  We have decided to continue this journey of bringing home our child from...China!!!

So I know that a lot of you are probably wondering how in the heck we went from Ethiopia to China.  That's a big difference!  Let me tell you, it was not easy to make this decision.  We have had Ethiopia in our hearts for a long time now and it was really hard to trust that this was a door that God was opening for us.  As I said in our previous post, we have been spending a lot time with our social worker discussing the recent news out of Ethiopia and while visiting with her, the option of China came up.  In many ways, what is happening in China seems too good to be turn.  This was one of my big hang ups.  If it seems too good to be true, it must be--this is what I normally think and had to fight with myself about while trying to decipher the correct move to make.  But in the end Matt and I really felt God calling us to step out of our comfort zone and trust Him.  Trust that He was continuing to guide us on this journey and that He is great enough to offer us a door that seems too good to be true, but it just might be that good.  I can't wait to see what He has in store during the next year.

Matt and I are open to a little boy or girl, always have been.  We decided when we started on this journey that we wouldn't pick the sex of our child if we were pregnant and we don't want that kind of control regarding our child through adoption either.  The fact that we are open to having a boy moves us up the list in a big way for the China program.  Unfortunately, most people who are waiting for a child from China want a little girl and that leaves a lot of little boys who do not have a family to come home to.  This is the main reason Matt and I felt the call to switch to China.  The wait for a little boy in China is suspected to be a year at this time.  Once we are matched with our child we wait about 6 months before traveling to China.  The travel to China is also different.  We only have to make one trip and we bring our child home that same trip!!  What a relief that we don't have to leave our child in the country before we can bring them home!

We are so excited with our decision, but cautiously excited.  It's hard to not put up walls around your heart to try to protect it after so many disappointments.  We are scared to death of more disappointments and heat breaks.  I am still learning to trust and to give EVERYTHING to God.  I can see in the past where I have tried to just keep a thumb of control on our adoption.  I want to give this entire journey over to Him.  I want to trust that He has us all firmly in His hands.  I am learning to do this.  It is a daily decision for me to let God have full control.  I trust that He has not forsaken us and will not leave us here.  He will see this journey through.  What an amazing God we serve.  A God who cares about us so much that He continues to guide and open doors that "seem too good to be true".  That is true love!!!  

In other news, my mom had a "suspicious mammogram" that lead to a specialized MRI test to further look at the suspicious area.  Today she saw her cancer doctor and she is still cancer free after two years!!!!  I am so relieved and happy to share this news.  I so want her to be around for many, many more years.  I want her to meet her grandchild(ren).  She has been a constant support and encouragement to me and she has walked this journey beside us.  I want her to be able to reap the rewards at the end of this journey as much I want it for myself.  She will be a fantastic grandma and I want her to be healthy and able to enjoy being a grandma!!

I am feeling very thankful after a long few months.  Thank you friends and family for your continued prayers and support.  Love you, megan

        

It's Time to Be Honest

I know I promised to be a better blogger the last time I posted and I obviously have not lived up to that.  Honestly, it's in part because I haven't known how to express my feelings over the last couple of months.  They have been some of the hardest we've endured since deciding to pursue international adoption.  None of the news coming out of Ethiopia is good or optimistic.  Time lines are being lengthened significantly and in the most recent update we learned that no infants have been adopted out of Ethiopia for some time.  Meaning that the little progress that is being made towards adoptions is with older children and for us that means that we are not moving up the list at all.  About a month ago, I talked with the Holt Ethiopia office in Oregon and at that time we learned that we are sitting at approximately 80 out of 120 waiting families--talk about disheartening.  So needless to say, Matt and I have felt very helpless lately; questioning what is going on and why; and recently wondering what options we have.

First of all let me try to explain what we know about what is happening in Ethiopia to delay things so much.  It all started last summer when the Ministry of Women and Child fired their director.  Shortly after that adoptions stopped completely.  They discovered that a lot of short cuts were being taken with adoptions including not always notifying appropriate family members of an upcoming adoption.  They have since added more processes to ensure that appropriate people are notified as well as other bureaucracy that I don't totally understand.  It seems like the changes they are now including are for the better, but unfortunately it is slowing things down a lot and waiting children and waiting families are caught in the middle.

This last weekend, Matt and I were talking about the adoption and feeling discouraged-unable to answer each other's questions or calm each others' fears.  We decided that enough was enough; it was time to meet with our social worker, Bonnie to find out if she knew more of what was happening in Ethiopia and to get some answers on what our options are.  We met with her this morning and I'm happy to report that we feel more optimistic than we have for a while.  Not because they were able to give us better news regarding Ethiopia, but because we do have options.  I'm not going to write about our options now, sorry.  Matt and I are seeking the advice of our families and praying about what decision to make and which direction to go.  I am going to ask you all for your prayers again as well.  We have a big, important decision to make and it's scary.  We want to make sure that we are making a wise decision and not making a decision based on our current emotions.  So please pray with us as we seek wisdom.  Pray for our child wherever he/she may be.  Pray for patience.  Thank you friends.