We got an update!

One of the people that traveled to Ethiopia last week to bring home their child was gracious enough to check up on B (Jeremiah) for us while she was there. Here's what she had to say:

"B is a cute little guy he seemed very happy the first day we saw him, he was in the shade and had a smile every time I would get his attention. The second day I saw him he was being fed by one of the special mothers. Hannah's Hope is an amazing place and he is being loved and cared for just as you would hope while he isn't with you. I pray that the time you have to wait goes by quickly, but know that he is safe and content there."

Thanks so much for the update Christine! Hopefully we can return the favor for some other waiting families when we travel.

We've had no concerns about the care that Jeremiah is receiving but it's nice to be reassured yet again by someone who has been there and seen our son being cared for.

Court Date

We got a call from our case manager Christy today with news of our court date. It was quite a shock to us. Not as much of a shock as the Brock family got, but still a pretty good one. Our court date is April 22nd. We were totally expecting something in mid-to-late May based on the dates other families were getting. Now we may be traveling to Ethiopia by mid-May. Most families travel 3 to 4 weeks after they pass court.

We're not sure what happened. Christy said a spot in the court schedule must have become available and somehow we ended up getting it. We almost feel like we should be apologizing to the other families who we've somehow gotten in front of. While we're thrilled at the chance we may be able to get Jeremiah sooner, we're also saddened that it looks like we may not be able to travel with our friends JB & Carla. Obviously there are no guarantees we'll pass the first time through but we hope and pray that we do. Who knows what will happen, but it has been confirmed yet again that it's not in our control.

For you non-AGCI families reading this, you should really follow that link I posted above and read about the absolutely amazing news the Brock's got today. They've been through some very difficult stuff in their adoption process so it was great to see their news today. Spoiler alert - they thought they were getting called today to be told when their court date was going to be. Instead Christy was able to tell them that they passed court this week! How great is that?!?

What's happened since The Call

Once we knew the gender of our child Monica started putting the pressure on to figure out what his name was going to be. She did the same thing once we had an ultra sound during her pregnancy with Sawyer and found out we were having a boy. My Grandma Beachy was also very concerned that we give this little boy a name. It didn't take too long for us to finalize a name. We're going to keep B's Ethiopian name as his middle name. His first name will be....Jeremiah. We've always liked that name but obviously haven't used it until now. Jeremiah 29:11 sort of sealed the deal. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

After coming up with the name, I was at Miller's Country Store paying for a few things and I spotted this plaque (see below) by the register with Jeremiah 29:11 on it. I couldn't pass it up. We'll put it up in his room. FYI - the little hippo in the picture is from Ten Thousand Villages. It was made by an artisan in Kenya. Anyone in the Phoenix area should visit the Ten Thousand Villages store that my sister manages. There is some really cool stuff there. If you live somewhere else, find a store near you. OK, shameless plug over.



On Monday (02/23), we were finally able to get all of our referral acceptance paperwork sent to AGCI. The International Pediatrician from Riley called us the previous Thursday (02/19) after she had reviewed the information and pictures we have of Jeremiah. She said everything looks great. On Saturday (02/21) the last piece we were waiting for, the social worker approval form, arrived in the mail. On Monday I was able to send our paperwork in along with JB & Carla's acceptance paperwork to AGCI. The cost of overnighting a package is a lot better when you can divide the amount by two.



We're now back in the waiting mode of the adoption process. The adoption process seems to be hurry up...wait...hurry up...wait...keep repeating cycle. Right now we're waiting to find out when our court date will be. I'm assuming we'll find out sometime in the next two or three weeks.

More on THE Call

Right before I left work on Thursday I called the International Adoption Clinic at Riley Hospital for Children just to see if there was anything I needed to set up in advance for them to review our referral information, you know once we actually got our referral. There wasn't, but I did get the email address that I would need to send the information to. As part of the process of officially accepting a referral we need to have our child's medical information reviewed by a international adoption pediatrician. After I made that call, I packed up and headed home.

When I walked in the house I heard the phone ringing and I got a little excited. Monica answered the phone back in our bedroom. I looked at caller id and when I saw the area code I quickly grabbed my cell phone to see if that matched up with any of the AGCI numbers I had stored in my phone. Right about the time I had matched them up Monica came out and told me Christy was on the phone. Monica's version up to that point involved seeing caller id before she answered and realizing this was probably the call, talking to Christy, and telling her that she might cry.

Once we were both on the phone, Christy told us that she had a little boy to tell us about, but she wanted to make sure that we wanted to proceed because he was younger than what we had talked about early in the adoption process (see previous post for discussion of a baby referral). We both agreed that we wanted to hear more. If this is God's plan, we want to go along with it. Christy then began telling us about our little boy. His name is "B". (Side note, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post his Ethiopian name on here, at least until he's legally our son. Maybe I can, but I'm not risking it until I know otherwise. We definitely are not allowed to post his picture.) B is two months old. Christy told us what they know about his background (not much) and then told us about his test results and the results from the pediatrician checkup done at Hannah's Hope. While she was telling us all this stuff, the oven timer was going off and Sawyer, our 16 month old, was wanting one of us to hold him. It was a little chaotic. We wrapped up our conversation and Christy said she'd be emailing us all of B's information and pictures. We snapped a few pictures of each other while we were getting "the call" to document the moment.





After we got off the phone, we scurried around to try and get Brennan and Sawyer ready because we were supposed to be leaving to go watch Donkey basketball. It was a fundraiser event for one of the elementary schools in the school system Monica teaches in. We thought about not going but Brennan was really excited about it and a bunch of our friends were going to be there so we could share the news with them. We got the boys ready and then checked our email and got our first look at B. Right away Monica noticed that he's got a cowlick like our boys do, particularly Brennan. We printed two pictures of B and headed out the door.

On the drive we both were on our cell phones calling our parents, siblings, and friends to tell them the good news. I had called Carla (also adopting from Ethiopia with AGCI) to tell her and she had just gotten to the "basketball" game. She was waiting for us when we got there to see B's pictures. At the game we were able to show off B's pictures and tell several of our friends.

Now it gets even more interesting...During the halftime intermission Monica was talking with one of her co-workers and Carla was holding our son Sawyer. All of a sudden Carla came running up to Monica and gave Sawyer to her. Christy from AGCI was on the phone! They were getting their referral too!!! Seriously, was this really happening???? For those of you that don't know, JB & Carla are some of our very best friends. We go to church together, were youth leaders together for five years, our oldest boys were born about three hours apart, and we only live 4 miles from each other. We started this adoption journey together but were 5 spots apart on the boy list. They received a referral for a 2 year old boy "M". Well, they think he's 2 but don't really know. He certainly isn't 5 months old like the birth date given on his information. For the AGCI families tracking numbers, JB & Carla were #9 on the boy list and #22 on the girl list at their official February update. How awesome that we got our referrals only a few hours apart!

After we got home and put the boys to bed, my parents came over to check out B. It was a great evening. As we've shown off B's pictures to people, a common theme has been that people think he looks like one of our boys. We agree. When we told Brennan (our 4 year old) the good news he was really excited. He thought we would be leaving right away to get B. Most of his excitement was based on the fact that when we go to Ethiopia he gets to stay with Grandma Kathy and Papaw.

So what's next...We have to fill out more paperwork, get the medical review done (see above), have a conference call on Tuesday with AGCI and the other families who received infant referrals last week, and then write another check to send in with our paperwork. After that we'll wait for our court date. I'm guessing our court date won't be until May based on the recent court dates other AGCI families have received. We will probably travel 3 or 4 weeks after we pass court. So my guess is that it will be at least June before we can go get B. Obviously we hope to be able to travel with JB & Carla. We've been hoping for that all along but now it feels like a real possibility. That's our prayer.

Seriously, this is a ridiculously long post. I'm done for now.

It Happened!

We got the call today around 5:00. He's a young one. He was born on our anniversary, December 11th. It was a crazy evening. Food coming out of the oven. Hungry boys. Then the phone rings and our lives change forever. Then we did what every normal family would do after getting a call of this magnitude, we went to watch donkey basketball!

I'll post more later...

And then there was one...

...and that one would be us. When it comes to getting a boy, we're the new number



The couple ahead of us on the waiting list, Troy and Amber, got their referral today moving us into the top spot. I'm a combination of freaked out and excited. Needless to say we'll be keeping our phones charged and close by our side.

For those keeping score at home, JB & Carla are up to #5 on the boy list.

And down the stretch we come...

We got our monthly update email from AGCI with our new numbers. Officially we're #4 for a boy and #15 for a girl, but the email included this..."there are a few referrals that were recently made that have not yet been factored out of the lists as we are awaiting the official acceptances". We're pretty sure that at least one of the families ahead of us on the boy list who got a referral doesn't have their official acceptance in yet. If so, that would make us unofficially #3 (at least) on the boy list.

On the toddler front, our case manager told us that "there are three other families ahead of you for a toddler girl, but two only go up to 2 years, and the other only to 3 years". Our parameters go up to 4 years. So if a three year old girl would come up for adoption, we'd be first in line. If you think we need a girl, this is the scenario you should be praying for.

Now for a toddler boy, there is no one standing in our way. We're at the top.

The thought of getting a referral for a baby has me a little scared. When we started this process, I assumed we'd get a toddler referral long before we'd make it to the top of the regular list. Well, it's coming right down to the wire. Monica is more excited about the possibility of a baby than I am. Based on how quickly we've gotten to this point on the list, I've decided that maybe there's a reason we're rising so rapidly. Maybe God has a plan different than mine. Proverbs 3:5 popped in my head the other day while I was thinking about this. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Technically the reference didn't pop into my head. I had to look that part up. The "lean not on your own understanding" part is the whammy for me. I guess if God thinks we should have a baby, I'm willing to defer to His wisdom.

FYI - JB & Carla are #9 boy and #22 girl.