April 6, 2013

WAITING and WAITING

We were told the waiting would seem endless and YES it most certainly does.  Still waiting on the 5th clearance that our son needs, which is basically a stamp on one document which says he's "officially" adoptable.  We all know that, they all know that, but without that official stamp on that particular paper nothing is going to happen.  We find that everytime we are out with our with our family and grandkids we think about how nice it would be to have him home and here with us.  Knowing that you can't do anything but pray & trust in God's timing makes it hard for someone like me who is a "doer".  My new prayer is that the Lord helps me to rest in Him & realize I've done all I can do. 

I still think about how in awe our son was of the ocean and the pool in our neighborhood and how badly he wanted to be here to swim.  Still holding on to the fact that he will be here in time to enjoy those things. 

Please pray with us as we wait on this clearance. 

March 27, 2013

INTERESTING COMMENT!!

Well received my first "out loud" negative comment & what I consider very ignorant comment today.  I was speaking with someone I knew from when I worked today, & I was sharing some of our adoption story.  She was asking me some questions about our son & said, "I'm not sure how to really put this, but is he civilized?"!!!  I looked at her & thought you certainly aren't serious.  I told her, "YES, of course he's civilized, why would you ask".   She just assumed that because he lived on the streets in Ethiopia for most of his life he was some uncivilized teen that we were going to try & turn into a productive member of the human race.  I told her that he was a polite, respectful, helpful boy who inspite of his difficult life probably is better behaved than many teens  in this country who have had almost everything handed to them.  Must confess I left thinking, "how ignorant a person"!!

Thankfully the remainder of my day was better!!  Each day I get up wondering if this will be the day we hear that the 5th clearance we need is in.  Feels like when I was pregnant with my kids & was near my due date.....will today be the day I go into labor.  Felt the same way with all my grandkids too!!  That waiting & wondering if today is the day tests your faith.  At least it does mine. 

I'm busy trying to get tickets sold for an outdoor concert that a friend is doing for us.  If you live in the Mount Pleasant area, this will be an awesome event.  Concert is 4/20 at 1 P.M.  Tickets are only $10/person.  You can leave me a comment on the blog if you are interested.  Will be at a beautiful setting....panoramic view of Wando river.

We are getting so close to our goal financially.  If you would consider donating a small amount we would really appreciate it.  Go to www.razoo.com/story/One-Less-Orphan

March 23, 2013

WAITING GAME IS ON

Well, we are definetly in the midst of the waiting game.  Since all our paperwork is done & the doing is over, the waiting game seems endless & at times useless.  We can understand the need for precautions to be taken where children are concerned, but some of what takes place (or actually doesn't take place) seems to be time wasting & unecessary.    I must confess that at times I do well, but find myself frequently having to ask the Lord for forgiveness in not trusting His timing & resting in Him. 

Our sons birthday was the other day, at least the date the Ethiopian government picked for his birth date.  We know he wasn't aware of it, but we were & couldn't help but think & pray for him all day.  Thought about all the things he liked to do,  like his love of soccer, & how he talked about Manchester United & how he wants to play soccer in America. How he was beginning to play basketball with my 2 oldest grandsons, & how we have decided we will get him a basketball net & ball when he comes home.   We thought about the fun he had with my grandchildren, the way that language wasn't a barrier when he spent time with my 3 oldest grandsons & how they would laugh & be silly.  Thought about  the funny things he said to make my husband & I laugh & his warmth & love & deep desire to be part of a family.  Thankfully, our family.  We talked about how we would have a huge birthday party for him shortly after he comes home.  His first ever birthday party. 

Our biggest focus as far as prayer goes at this moment is for him to receive his 5th & final clearance.  Seems like it's taking forever to come in.  We do know that many of the children up for adoption from the Tigray area are all waiting on this clearance, so in a way, we are glad it's just not him.  At least we know there's nothing questionable with his paperwork.  Just a waiting game.  What is frustrating is that our dossier will get to Ethiopia on 3/27 & after it's translated, if that clearance is not in, it will be sent to our adoption agency's office in Addis.  It will sit there & wait until someone gives us that clearance.  If you read this, please pray with us that the clearance will come next week.  We are "seeking & asking" the Lord for favor. 

Please consider a small donation to help us raise the remainder of the money needed.  We have come such a long way, but still need to raise the remainder of the travel money that will be needed.  You can go to:  www.razoo.com/story/One-Less-Orphan   God bless each of you who read this.

 

March 10, 2013

ANOTHER MILESTONE COMPLETED IN OUR JOURNEY

Was so grateful to have mailed our dossier package out on Thursday.  What a wonderful feeling to be totally done & it mailed off, received by the adoption agency, & being sent to the Ethiopian embassy in DC on Wednesday!!  After they review it, they will send it to Ethiopia & then we wait.  Takes them about 2-3 wks to translate it & then they review it.  Seems like it's taking about 3-4 months for courtdates to be issued from the time they receive the dossier.  We are praying, praying, praying that things will move along quickly & that will not be the case.  Our desire is to have a June  courtdate & our son home by mid July.  That will take a miracle......but we've seen many.  Including God calling two retired people to adopt an almost 15 year old boy, having a family that has been so supportive & financial miracles.  We are only $5000 from our goal. 

Got to send off our first package with a family from Indiana that left today.  It was exciting knowing he would get something from us.  Wasn't much, only allowed to send a 1 gal. ziplock bag, but I think he will like what's in it.  Sent some math pages for him to practice his math in english numbers.  He liked doing math when he was here.  He just loved the few days that he went to school with my grandson, Owen, who attends Palmeto Christian Academy.    Very insistent that we will go to school there when he comes home. Remember him saying to me, "Mom, I go school here when back America".   Probably not an option the first year, since he will have a lot of catching up to do, but we're believing with intense tutoring & schooling, it may be an option the second year.  He has lost so much of his childhood to poverty & living on the streets that we want to do all we can to bless his life like all of our lives have been blessed.  Not just in a material way, but with a room of his own, a home where he's loved, extended family that loves him, never going to bed hungry again, enough protein in his diet for him to catch up height & weight wise. 

Please consider helping us with a small donation of $25 to reach our goal in the next few weeks.  Go to www.razoo.com/story/One-Less-Orphan.  Please consider sharing that site with others who might like to help us in giving this boy a chance of a life that we all take for granted.

 

March 5, 2013

MISTAKE IN LAST POST!!!  

Sorry, I just wasn't thinking when I ended that last post with our fund raising site.  The correct one is WWW.RAZOO.COM/STORY/ONE-LESS-ORPHAN

March 5, 2013

DOSSIER READY TO BE MAILED!! 

It's hard to believe that our "paper chase" (that's what they call your process of document gatherings) is over!!!  Can hardly fathom that.  Seems like it's been a long, long process but yet it seems like he just left. As I was thinking of all of this paperwork being mailed, I remembered how our son one day told me that when he was in Ethiopia, "I pray, pray, please, please God family in America".  God answered his prayer and we are blessed to be that family.  I am just in such awe of our Lord & God.  We have seen him doing amazing things through all of this.  Did a yard sale this past friday afternoon & sat. a.m. and raised $745 after  expenses.    We've been getting donations from people all over the country that we don't even know, from as far away as California & this one  was amazing....2 days ago we got a small donation from someone in Norway!!!!!  We have raised all but $5000 of what we need.  That is truly a miracle, because we started off needing to raise $27,000!!  Would love to have all the funds raised in the next few weeks, so if you read this, would you consider making even a $25 donation to help us reach our goal.  Also, if you would pass this blog along to friends that would be so helpful.  You can make your donations to our website:  www.razoo.com/story/One-Boys-Story.   Thank you & blessings!

March 3, 2013

OUR JOURNEY TO BEING OUR SON HOME

Well I've told some stories about the month our son stayed with us, now let me tell you about our adoption journey.  First let me say, that one of the hardest things I've done was for us all to go to the airport on 1/15/2013, knowing that our wonderful 30 days with this sweet boy was up and he now had to return to the orphanage.  It was a very emotional time for all the host families and boys who were returning back to Ethiopia.  When the time came for him to board his plane it was a very tearful good-bye.  Watching him cry & as he walked thru security looking back at us every few minutes and waving was emotional.  My 6 year old grandaughter, Sierra, was there along with some of my other grandchildren and she just sobbed as he left.  I know her seeing her nonnie, my husband, her mama & aunt Tracy crying added to the emotion for her. 

I am glad we are now on the process of getting him home. All of our paperwork is complete & ready to be mailed to AWAA (our adoption agency).    It's a tremendous amount of work & papers to fill out, collect, notorized, etc.  They don't make it easy & having seen my son & daughter-in-law go through it with their adoption and now us, I truly believe it could be made easier.  Governments need to realize these are children waiting to be loved and given a home and families waiting to give them that love.    Some of the paperwork is definetly necessary to screen the wrong kind of people out, but much of it is just ridiculous.  We are now waiting for our son to get his 5th & final clearance.  That's a major priority of prayer.  Without that, they will not be able to give us our courtdate for our first trip to Ethiopia.

We 

February 23, 2013

SOCCER CAMP

One of our sons favorite activities while he was here was a soccer camp that a local coach & his wife arranged with their 11 year old boy's soccer team.  It was a beautiful day and all 5 of the Ethiopian boys here, met the American boys to play.  Coach did some drills teaching the Ethiopian boys some skills and then it was time to play!!  The Ethiopian boys are naturals and all of them are used to playing back at the different orphanages where they live.  Our son had a GREAT time and is a very good soccer player.  He was thrilled to wear his new soccer shoes for the game. 

You never would have known that these bunch of boys playing were from 2 different continents.  They all played so well together & somehow managed to get their points across to each other!!  It was fun to watch them interact, and there were lots of smiles to go around. 

February 20, 2013

BONDING WITH WHOLE FAMILY

One of the amazing things about our experience was how our whole family bonded with our "son".  He took to everyone immediately and seemed very comfortable.  He blended right in like he's always belonged with us all.  He particularly like the idea that there are 9 grandchildren in the family.  From my youngest grandson who is 3 to the oldest who is 13.  My oldest grandson was fondly referred to as "big boy" by him.  Corbett is a football player who plays the line & looks the part, hence the title "big boy".  Actually he was graduated to "big ox" one day when we were all having a picnic together & all the boys were ganging up on Corbett trying to get the football away.  He had 3 boys on his back, knocked to the ground, but wouldn't give up that ball.  From that point on he was then known effectionately as "big ox" by T.  (decided we'll use his initial).  He spent quite a bit of time at my daughter Tracy's house, since she lives the closest, hanging out with her 2 boys, Owen 11 & "big ox"!!!!  He really enjoyed being there, and wasn't the least bit shy. 

We also had a few sleep overs here with my 3 oldest grandsons.  My grandson Johnathan enjoyed being with him & T enjoyed him equally as well.  It was such a blessing to see him interact with all my grandchildren.  Many times he would say to me, "good family, very good family"!!

CHRISTMAS THROUGH DIFFERENT EYES!!

One of the highlights of our visit was the Christmas holidays.  We have many traditions that we hold to each year in our family, and one of them is going to the county park here, for their annual "festival of lights".  We meet in the parking lot of the county offices and everyone piles in to the back of my husband's pick up truck for the very short ride down to the entrance.  There were 5 adults and 10 children.  It was one of those cold nights in Charleston, so we were all bundled up with quilts and blankets.  When we arrived for the drive through to see the lights, our "son" was amazed and very excited.  He was joking, laughing and singing along with all 9 of my grandchildren.  We got out of the truck in the area where you can walk around, roast marshmellows & take a train ride through the woods.  All of the kids had fun yelling "Merry Christmas" to everyone, plus one voice with a very strong Ethiopian accent.  On the way out of the park all the kids were yelling out greetings, good-byes and a few other words in Amharic that our "son" had taught them.  It was truly a wonderful experience for all of us to see a 14 year old boy experience something he never dreamed exsisted.
Christmas Eve is always spent at my daughter Tracy's home.  Our tradition is to eat heavy appetizer in the afternoon, then off to church, and then back again for dessert.  All of the decorations, Christmas trees, the church decorated was something this young man had never seen.  Another Christmas eve tradition is for Nonnie to give each grandchild a Christmas ornament.  This included one for our "son".  A snowman inside a snowglobe.  He loved it. 
Christmas morning was a busy time.  We did gifts at our home first and oh my goodness what looks of delight on a boy's face who never received a Christmas present in his life.  He particularly liked the soccer shin pads he got and the soccer shoes.  He loved having his picture taken with each gift.  We always go to my daughter Tracy's house to exchange gifts with them and have Christmas breakfast.  That was another fun time of "firsts" for our "son".  He enjoyed watching my grandson's open there gifts and then having a turn to open his gifts from my daughter & her family.  He was most thrilled with the watch he received.  After that a ride to my other daughter's house, more gift exchanges.  Dinner was at my son's and we arrived earlier than the rest to exchange more gifts!!We all spent the early evening  having dinner and enjoying all the family being together. 
 

February 17, 2013

MORE STORIES

One of the most memorable conversations I had with our "son" was when he was only here two days, and he was looking at all the pictures of my grandchildren that I have on my refrigerator.  He especially focused in on the picture that is there of my two grandchildren from Ethiopia.  He had met them all at the airport, but seemed particularly interested in that one photo.  He asked, "they go back Ethiopia airplane".  I explained briefly to him that "no, go back to Ethiopia, they stay in America with new Mom and Dad".  He looked at their picture again, touched it and said to me, "good, very good, American very good".   It was obvious that he was glad that these two children had found a home and family in America.  Many times while he was here, he would tell us, "America good, very good".  We take so much of our lives here in this country for granted.  We forget how blessed we are.  It took a boy from a third world country to help us focus on our blessings. 

Visit Stories Contine

Each day of our visit was such a special memory.  Each morning when our "son" woke up, he would make his bed immediately, then quietly open my door & say "good morning, mom".  I knew it was time to get my day going.  That usually happened around 7 a.m. each day.  (Little earlier than this retired lady was used to getting up!)  He would either take a shower first before coming downstairs for breakfast, or if it wasn't a shower day (had a habit of showering every other morning), then he wouldn't eat breakfast until he went upstairs, washed up, brushed his teeth & dressed.  One interesting thing is that he really enjoyed our warm/hot showers.  Seems the showers they took in the orphanage were mostly with cold water.  (Not my idea of a good way to start the day, but we are spoiled, aren't we?)


One activity he enjoyed most days was riding "his" bike.  He would get on that bike and ride as fast as he could with a smile so big I could see it all the way down the street.  We would go for bike rides together, and it wasn't as easy to keep up with him as it had been when I was raising my children.  Age does catch up with you.  One day I had walked the dog first with him, then we went for a bike ride.  We had gone a decent distance & my thighs began to burn big time.  I just kept praying, "let me go just alittle further!  With God's grace I made it back home, but trailing behind.  Little trouble walking when I got off the bike that day. 
More stories to come

February 14, 2014

OUR STORY CONTINUES


It didn't take long for us to realize what a special boy we had staying with us.  About the third day he was here, he and I had just finished breakfast and I told him I was going to go take a shower and get dressed.  I began to clean up the kitchen, and he came over and gentlely pushed me and said, "go,  I do".  I explained that it was OK I would finish up.  He said, "no, I do".  I went upstairs and when I came back down he had my entire kitchen cleaned, floor swept (found broom on his own), counter tops wiped clean.  I tried to remember if his older "brother" ever did that at 14 without being asked.  I'm pretty sure the answer is no!! :) 


Our first trip to the beach was very memorable.  If you live in this area, you know the IOP bridge gives you a wonderful view at the very top.  When you reach that point, the whole ocean is spread out in front of you.  When he saw that, he was amazed.  As we walked out on the beach and met some of the other host boys it was magical watching them look at the ocean for the first time in their lives.  They played soccer, ran around, played in the very cold surf, dug in the sand  and just marveled at what we take for granted....one of God's amazing gifts to us!
More to come on our wonderful visit. 

February 14, 2013

OUR HOSTING STORY

Our first night as a hosting family was a sweet one.  Our "son" was delighted to see our Christmas tree (first one ever) and even more excited when I took him upstairs to show him his room.  We knew he liked soccer so we made some minor changes to our guest room to accomadate a soccer fan.  His biggest thrill was when he saw a large framed poster on the wall of Drobga (one of his favorite players)! I must tell you my husband nor I know much about soccer, had no clue who his favorite players were, but when I looked to order a poster online, God knew his favorite players! His smile showed his delight more than words could.  Jet lag began to set in and shortly after a snack & by 7pm he was curled up in a ball sound asleep on our sofa.  I was barely able to wake him and actually guided him up the stairs.  He kept wanting to sit down about ever other step!  Finally we made it to his bed and he literally fell into the bed. 

Will share more of our story tomorrow.

First encounter

  Our story begins back in September, 2012, when I saw a post on facebook about "Welcoming Angels".  It's a program to bring Ethiopian orphans to the U.S. for one month.  The purpose is for them to experience our culture and for the host families to advocate for their adoption.  Children that are sent are considered "unadoptable" due to their ages.  Most families want infants or very young children.  Five amazing boys arrived in Charleston on December 15, 2012. Let me say that day began with a beautiful rainbow over Charleston.  We knew then, that God sent us that rainbow as a reminder of how much He was a part of this experience.  As we waited anxiously at the airport with balloons, signs, & American & Ethiopian flags, our excitment grew.  Finally, their flight arrived and we saw one handsome 14 year old boy walk towards us, and our lives changed forever.  Our retirement plans went out the window. 

Come back to read more about how our visit went and how God is working!