Big News #2 - Our addition

Okay, we are ready to announce some more news!

We are expecting another child - and she's 10!

We are officially adopting a girl that I met in Ethiopia in April! We have been working on the process since I got back. We signed our official agreement last Monday, and our dossier left for Ethiopia a couple of days later. I can't post a picture of her yet because our agency asks that we not post pictures of kids on the internet until they are legally ours to respect confidentiality and the wishes of the Ethiopian government. She will be known on here as E. and I'll post pictures once we make it through court, which won't be for several months. She has a beautiful personality and spirit about her that shines through her eyes and her smile in her pictures. She is more beautiful to me every day...

We are very excited! She is a very sweet girl, and was new to the orphanage when I met her. I had an amazing spiritual experience on my second day there (which happened to be G.J.'s 7th birthday) and knew without a doubt that God was telling me that we were to adopt her specifically. After that, I tried to spend time with her when possible. She speaks some English, and has a very gentle spirit. The more time I spent with her, the more I started to feel my heart connecting to hers, and the more sure I was about her.

Chris and I talked from the airport in WA D.C., and then again after I got home. We started the process one step at a time, always praying that if we were on the wrong path, that the door would shut. We flew through the process without intending to. Each step has been a breeze so far (don't forget that we are used to foster licensing which was a very long process for us). We have spent lots of time thinking, talking, and praying about this decision. It is not one we felt like we could make lightly. We're a little too weathered from foster care to be naive about an older child under the best of circumstances. But we feel that this is the right decision for her and for us. We are looking forward to the changes she will bring, and we are praying that our experience of bringing kids into our family will help us hold her through the tough times and grief that she will surely experience.

So last week, about 10 weeks after requesting information from AAI, our paperwork was on its way to Ethiopia. The kids and I listened to Ethiopian music all day to celebrate our paperwork on that Fed Ex plane!

It is fun to think that she is in our thoughts as we make all of the coming decisions: new house, neighborhood, school, church, community... She will be part of all of those decisions even before she gets here. The timing has been amazing. Chris got his job offer after we got her file and needed to make our final decision. It was much easier to commit to her once we knew that we would have an income, and where we would be living!

Chris and I have been planning for all of us to go over together to get her, but with plane prices increasing, we shall see what we can financially swing. Now that our house is ready to show, I can get to work applying for adoption grants, since this clan doesn't have much extra! Right now we are waiting on our immigration approval, and then things will be completely official. Then we will be able to let her know that she has been chosen, and will be coming to Oregon!