Melkm Ganna!

As we await bringing a little one into our family, we try to consider more and more what that will look like and how we can incorporate more cultural aspects into our family. We were reading a book that specifically described each of the cultural traditions practiced by different countries surrounding Christmas and of course were very interested in the celebrations found within Ethiopia. Below is a summary of what we found.

In the Ethiopian Coptic church, Ganna, or Christmas, is celebrated on January 7th. The celebration takes place in Ethiopia's ancient rectangular churches carved, over 800 years ago, from solid volcanic rock. Men and boys sit separately from girls and women. The choir sings from outside the circle. The second circle, or holy place, is for the congregation. Holy Communion is served in the innermost circle, the sanctuary. Following a day of fasting, everyone attending the early-morning mass wears white. People receive candles as they enter the church. After lighting the candles everyone walks around the church three times.
Twelve days after Ganna, on January 19, Ethiopians begin the three-day celebration call Timkate, which commemorates the baptism of Christ. the children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups they belong to. The grown-ups wear the shamma. The priests will now wear their read and white robes and carry embroidered fringed umbrellas.
Christmas food in Ethiopia usually includes injera, a sourdough pancake like bread that can be easily cooked over an open fire. Injera serves as both plate and fork.
Ganna and Timkat are not occasions for giving gifts in Ethiopia. If a child receives any gift at all, it is usually a small gift of clothing. Religious observances, feasting, and games are the focus of the season.
Melkm Ganna, or Good Christmas!

Books for Babies

As previously mentioned, we are very blessed to have others join us in our journey to bring home a child from Ethiopia.
Our downstairs neighbors and their dear friend Mark set out on a journey of their own to help with some of the financial aspects of our adoption. They have put in many long hours to prep and create the handmade journals that you will see below. Each journal is not only an artistic creation reflecting their abilities, but an act of service to our family as well. Once the journals were created and finished they didn't stop there. They contacted a local gallery here in town and shared with the owner their desire to sell the journals raising money for our adoption. The owner of the gallery graciously offered her business, Keag Gallery, as an avenue to sell the journals and is asking for nothing in return. We are so humbled by the actions of others and continue to search for words to honor their acts of kindness.

Some examples of the handmade journals created by Mark and Mike.

The journals on display in the Keag Gallery.

If you or someone you know are interested in purchasing a journal and contributing to our journey please contact us.

Home Study is Studied!

For the last three weeks we have been meeting with our caseworker, who has got to be one of the most kind people, to complete our homestudy. She has been very supportive of moving through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible, which we are very grateful for. We had to complete three visits with her. The first visit consisted of her walking through our home, and interviewing us about our decision to adopt and our relationship with one another. The second visit primarily consisted of individual interviews about our childhood and our relationship with parents. Last night was our final visit with her to complete the homestudy! We discussed medical conditions we would be willing to accept, our health history, our employment and spirituality. We were so excited to wrap up that part of the adoption process! Once she has our report written we will review it and then we can begin submitting all of our paperwork for the dossier. We are so anxious to move through each step that we have all of the paperwork gathered and ready to go-we just need to add our homestudy report to it! We were very excited last night so we made a few phone calls and then celebrated by having dinner with some good friends. We continue to pray that the timing will work out and that there will be very few set backs! We can't wait to bring home our baby!

Without You

I am sitting here listening to a new song of Coldplays and I was reminded of the book I read last year prior to our decision to adopt, There is No Me Without You. This book was definitely difficult to read at times because it provides a  lot of information regarding the AIDS crisis and how that affects the children of Ethiopia.  The author, Melissa Fay Greene has her own website regarding the book and adoption information in general.  If you have time check out the website - and if you have even more time, read the book! Once you read the book you will not be the same!

The First Purchase

I traveled back to Rapid City to visit family this weekend. My dear friend Laura came with me while Micah and Joel headed up to the mountains.  We had a great trip and it was so nice to introduce Laura to our families! 

While we were in Rapid, Sharon continued on with her excitement for the baby by making the first purchase! She took us out to Target where she demonstrated how excited one person can really become about the opportunity of a baby entiring the family! I must admit that at times I was overwhelmed with all of the items, the choices..... there is just SO MUCH that a baby can have! I did appreciate her joy and we ended up leaving with a cloth sling and a backpack carrier. One for me and one for Micah.... Did I mention that she was soooooo excited to make these purchases? I tried them on, and I think that they fit okay--it is kind of hard to tell without a baby weighing it down and a sack of potatoes didn't really sit like a baby!
So we now have our first items for the baby. We have been talking a lot about our hopes to keep things simple and not go overboard with the amount of baby "stuff" that can easily be accumulated. We are really trying to determine what it is that is necessary and what is more just a convience. Any feedback? We would love to hear from experienced mothers!

Announcing the News, Part III

We were so excited to finally tell my parents about the adoption that we couldn't wait to tell them in person! I pondered over and over what I could send them, and how it could be a creative meaningful gift. I had several ideas but when it came down to time and money I chose to do the following:

We picked out some cute photo books from the store, as well as a bib for both my mom and dad.  Micah and I, with the help of our friend Laura, took some photos to place in the photo book and I also included a letter to each of them explaining our decision. 

When I went to the Post Office on Tuesday to mail the packages, I could barely contain myself! I was jittery and probably smiling like a clown. I almost shouted out with excitement that these packages would inform our family about the baby we want to adopt, but I contained myself!

All week we anticipated when we would hear from my family.  Every time my phone rang, my stomach jumped a little bit. Finally on Friday while I was finishing up my lunch I received a phone call from my mom and later that night I received the phone call from my dad.  It was so great to hear from both of them and to share the news with them.  We shared with them where we are at in the process and answered many questions! I can't wait to visit with my brother next weekend and see how he feels about it! Also, my mom and her friend sent flowers celebrating the occasion.  It was really sweet of her. Yippee for the joy that babies bring!

Good Things Come in Two

Today we were excited to receive news regarding the adoption from Wyoming Children's Society. Micah had a phone call around 7:00 informing us that they had received our 10 page questionnaire and have officially assigned us to our Laramie Case Worker.  She wanted to let us know that our case worker would also be out of town for the next week, so it would be some time before we hear from her.  We were very excited because again, this feels like it is one step closer. That is how we are viewing a lot of this process; just taking the necessary steps to move us through this journey.  

We were also very blessed to receive wonderful news and encouragement from our friends, Mike and Melissa.  They had ventured on a walk and while on their walk stopped downtown at a local gallery.  The gallery features a lot of Fair Trade/Organic/Recycled products for retail.  They visited with the owner about the possibility of selling some of the journals they have been making with their friend Mark.  The owner was interested in having them sell the journals at her store.  They then shared with us how they have decided to sell the journals for the purpose of providing some financial support for our adoption process. We were again shocked and awed by the generosity of people.  They had also shared this information with the owner of the store and she is willing to return all of the money earned from the journals and even post our story alongside the journals at the store.  The kindness given has been overwhelming and echoes for many days to come.  Words again cannot express our gratitude for this kindness. Thank you for blessing us!

They Like Us!

I know, it might be hard for some to believe, but on Friday Micah received a phone call from Wyoming Children's Society.  They informed us that they had received our application and we were accepted!  They are sending us the information needed to complete the background checks and fingerprinting.  We were anxious to hear from Holt, so Micah called them and was informed that they had received our application, but were still in the process of reviewing the information. We were told that we would hear from them within a week regarding our acceptance.  

Today as Micah was home sick he received a phone call from Holt informing us that we had been accepted and that within the week someone from the Ethiopia program would contact us. I, of course had a long list of questions, but Micah of course was sick, and hadn't asked too many questions so our information was limited.  I was anxious to hear from them and considered super gluing the phone to my hip so I wouldn't miss there phone call.  That night as I checked e-mail one last time, I noticed an e-mail from an unfamiliar person.  When I opened the e-mail I was excited to see that it was from someone working with the Ethiopia program! Wow! That was fast and definitely answered a lot of my questions. 

We are very excited to be moving forward and can't wait to get our background checks completed so we can begin our homestudy!

Here We Go!

After multiple attempts and several hang ups, we were finally able to send out our applications for Wyoming Children's Society and Holt. It was an overwhelming and daunting task, but we made it! We couldn't believe the amount of information that had to be collected and written down to begin this process. The pile of paperwork was quite large and we often double and triple checked everything to make sure that we had it all.

For Wyoming Children's Society, the agency that we will be working with to complete our homestudy, we had to complete and gather:
*The application, which included our personal and financial information, the information for our five references, our agreement to their policies and finances, and our explanation of why we want to adopt.
*A current medical exam and TB test, then signed and sealed by our physician.
*A copy of our marriage license.
*A copy of our last years taxes.
*Photos of our family and our home.
*Our autobiographies which needed to discuss: our childhood, our educational history, our courtship and marriage history, our employment, our interests, and again why we want to adopt (This was probably the most overwhelming part).

For Holt International, the agency that we will be working with to complete the remainder of the paperwork to adopt from Ethiopia, we had to complete and gather:
*The application, which again included our personal and financial information, and our explanation of why we want to adopt.
*The agreement to their policies, signed and notarized.
*A copy of our last three years of taxes.
*Photos of our family and home.

Micah photocopied all of the information and then sent it out in the mail, and we couldn't have been more excited! We breathed a little deeper and felt a little lighter. We had a conversation about how we are really ready for this to happen and excited to be moving a little further along in the process. There is definitely anticipation as we wait for a response from both agencies. Once our applications are approved we will then complete our background check and fingerprinting. After that we will have to wait for our references to complete their letters of recommendation before we start the homestudy process.

We are very excited to begin this process and know that despite the moments of being overwhelmed, it will all be worth it.

Moving Through It

Some of the paperwork that will be sent to both agencies-maybe we should consider planting a tree after this process is over!

We are in the process of finishing up everything needed to turn in our applications to both Wyoming Children's Society and Holt.  It at times feels like such a daunting task and I can get overwhelmed.  

I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of time and energy needed to complete each item.

I get overwhelmed when I think about each day that passes by when it isn't finished and how this might prolong our adoption journey. 

I get overwhelmed when I think of having to be so vulnerable and hope that people deem us as worthy parents.  

My mind beings to race with thoughts of "what if....." and my heart begins to race with fear that something won't work out, and that we will be left empty handed. 

But I have to trust, as hard as that can be at times. I have to take a deep breath and remember that we are doing this because we feel without a doubt that this is where we should be right now in our life.  Despite how overwhelming it can be, we will move through this, and it will all be worth it. 

yearnings

I am browsing other blogs regarding their adoption journeys to Ethiopia and my heart is filled with a yearning. 

I am yearning for our family to grow.

I am yearning for this process to move more quickly.

I am yearning for more and more people to grow passionate about those who need homes.

I am yearning for the hearts of these children to be filled.

I am yearning for a child to love and pour my life into.

So while we wait and while we yearn, we continue to hope.

Choosing an Agency

We have been struggling with this decision for the last two months. As we started researching and looking into various agencies, we were amazed with the amount that we could select from. We never thought that it would be such a difficult process.
We narrowed our search down to four agencies and from there discussed what our priorities that should be found within the agency. We both felt strongly that there should be some form of in country support provided for the orphans. This may look like medical care or educational opportunities, or maybe even something entirely different. We just want to know that things are in place for the orphans that are there temporarily and for those that stay much longer than anticipated.
We quickly removed one agency from our list after reading about various problems they were having with regulations and following through in a professional manner. We then removed another agency from our list when we discovered how the amount of money to process the adoption is significantly larger than other agencies.
So here we are narrowed down to two agencies and we had the hardest time deciding. We created a long list of questions we had for the agency. We had then called and interviewed someone at both agencies. We also read blogs, joined web-groups, and checked out financial records. Finally, we took an evening and sat down to shift through all of the information we had gathered. As we were looking at all of the paper work, it became very obvious that one agency would provide a lot of what we were looking for. We still had a few follow up questions, which we called and had answered the next day, but once all was said and done we made our decision. We will be working with Holt International for the Ethiopia part and Wyoming Children's Society for our homestudy. We are happy to finally have made our decision and begin to move forward!

Announcing the News, Part II

This weekend we gathered together with Micah's family for a little reunion.  His parents had rented a cabin in the Snowies and we would spend three days together.  We were very excited for this gathering because we had not seen all of his family in some time.  We were also excited because we were planning on sharing with them our news regarding the adoption. 

Friday was going to be the first day that we would all be together. We thought it would be best to share the news sooner than later.  We invited our good friends to come out and eat dinner with us.  We were so grateful to have them there because it was an emotional time and they helped keep us calm.  

We had the idea of printing out an Ethiopian flag and cutting it into puzzle pieces. On the back of each puzzle piece we wrote a part of our message, "We are planning our adoption!" We gave the envelope to Ms. Von and gathered the family. There was some hesitation to participate in the activity, and a little frustration when things didn't go quite as smoothly, but once the news was shared it was a joyous time. We are happy to have some of our family finally know, and can't wait to tell the rest of our family! 

Beginning to piece the puzzle together. 

The puzzle finished, but then they had to get it turned over to read the message.

Someone had the idea of sliding it onto this plastic sleeve and then pulling the paper out. 

But, that didn't work. :( We felt a little bad, but thankfully they stuck with it.

With the puzzle finally finished, the second time, Jon is the first to read the message!

Jon announces the news and LaVon is very excited to finally know!

LaVon, very excited to finally be a grandma!

The Gift

This evening we had a jaw dropping experience and I am not even joking about that. We were visiting with our friends Joel and Laura and Joel's younger brother Jesse. We had recently finished sharing a meal and were sitting around chatting, which we were very excited to do because it is one of the many benefits of having them live in Laramie now. I started visiting with Laura about a receipt I had from shopping earlier in the day, and how we could possibly use pursue a few different routes to help with the cost of the adoption travel. As we were discussing options, Jesse asked us if we had money set aside fo the adoption. We explained to him that we had been saving up some money, and we have a good start, but we definitely don't have all of the money that will be needed to fund the entire adoption process. Jesse then began explaining to us how he had been in a really bad car accident the previous summer. As a result of the car accident and a long battle with the insurance companies, he received a decent sum of money. He made the decision early on that he did not need or want this money and would gift it to an organization. Throughout the year he has struggled to find the organization/persons that he felt the money should go toward. Up to this point we were both listening, and I don't know if either one of us knew what was coming next. Jesse then stated that he would like to gift us with a sum of money from his car accident, because he just felt that it was the right thing to do. We sat in shock for what seemed like an eternity. Once we could pick our jaws up off the ground, we quickly reminded Jesse that he had only known us for 6 days! Why would he possibly want to do this for us? His reply, without any hesitation, was because he just felt that it was the right thing to do and that he wants to help us with this process, he wanted to help bring this child home.
I don't know if many people have experiences like this one, but it is truly a blessing. We have felt confirmation and provision in ways that we least expected to. We asked ourselves many times, "How could we be so fortunate?" and "Did this really just happen to us?"
Needless to say, we feel so blessed and feel that without a doubt this is the journey we should be taking right now. We are eager to share with others the story of this gift and hope to someday provide an amazing gift in return.

Announcing the News, Part I

We arrived in Jackson last night. We drove up to spend the week with Joel and Laura to help them prepare for their move to Laramie. Today is Laura's golden birthday and as we were driving back into Jackson from a hike we shared with them our news of adoption.  Laura being her true self was very excited and squealed a little bit.  I, being my true self, got really emotional and teared up a few times.  It just feels so good to finally share our news with the people we love, it makes it feel more real.  

We really are excited to....... 

move forward, 

to grow our family, 

to share the wonders of the world,

to love a child as our own.

Why?

So why adoption? Why, when we have the opportunity to grow our family through very "normal" methods would we not do so? Well, first of all, I don't like the word normal. The reasons are not that easy to sum up in a few short sentences and in order to understand this decision, we feel that you need to understand our hearts.
I, SaraJane, have wanted to adopt a child since I was in the second grade. I remember visiting the school library one day and coming across a picture book that discussed adoption. I remember finishing that book and thinking that I wanted to be a part of something as beautiful as that. Throughout my life I continually came across information, whether I sought it out on my own or not. The desire planted in my heart has continued to grow and remains even stronger.
When Micah entered into my life I quickly shared with him my strong desire toward adoption. We had many conversations regarding the topic and I trusted that when the time came to grow our family we would have many more conversations about the topic. Micah has always been supportive of the idea. As a matter of fact, within our first year of marriage we traveled to Belize and Guatemala and while sitting on a gravel road at eleven o'clock at night discussed what it would look like for our family to become a transracial family.
As we began discussing what it would look like for our family to begin expanding, Micah and I both felt an overwhelming desire to bring a child into our family through adoption. There are so many children in this world that are yearning for a hug, yearning for a family, and we want to provide that for them.
There are probably a million other reasons and a million other thoughts, but it feels a little difficult to put into words what I have felt in my heart for such a long time. I am so thankful that Micah is willing to take this journey with me and that together we will walk this beautiful path that leads us to our child.

Questions We Have Asked...

As we have begun the journey of adoption we have found ourselves asking a lot of questions.  We thought we would give you an idea of some of the questions floating through our daily thoughts.

Are we ready for this?                    

Will I be a good dad?                                                                      How will we handle living as a transracial family?     

How will we handle living as a transracial family in Laramie Wyoming? 

How will we handle walking in public places and having people think it's weird having a child of a different color than us?

What will our families and friends think of it?

What will our co-workers think of it? 

What will our church think of it? 

What adoption agency should we go with?

Will I be a good mom? 

Are we ready?

How can I help the child cope growing up in an adoptive home? 

How are we going to balance our jobs and a child? 

How will finances work out? How will we finance this adoption? 

Will we be good parents? Are we ready? 

The Beginning of Our Journey

This blog entry begins the process of our journey to adopt a child from Ethiopia. It is hard to believe that we are at this point in our life after, "thinking about thinking about having kids someday." But this is it. The decision has been made and we are going to start moving forward. Our hope is that we will be able to keep family and friends updated on the adoption process along the way. We are very excited and nervous as well, so we hope that you will join us on this journey. We look forward to sharing more with you along the way!