I have had a couple of questions about the 'plan' lately. First of all, I am hoping that there are a lot of family members here, and if there is anyone that you can think of that doesn't have this address, feel free to send it to them.
So our application is in, and technically one week is almost down. For the general timeline of the process, check out the CHI website, just follow the links to the Ethiopian program. So of course, as I said before, I am indeed a bit stressed out hoping that everything goes well. But if things go smoothly, we are hoping to have our family together within a year.
Our dream is to bring home either twin infants or siblings, one an infant and the other under 3. That is our hope, and that is where our heart is. Hopefully it will be one boy and one girl, I know Travis would love a boy, and I just can't deny that I would love a daughter. Who knows what will really happen, perhaps there will be a wonderful sibling group of three, maybe twins that have an older sibling they want to keep together, and we will just have to see what God lays on our hearts. Whatever happens, we will be so happy and it will be very wonderful.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Application Away!
Today is the day! Our application is in the mail and on its way to the agency. We are very excited, we are on our way. Bethany was amazing as I freaked out about 4 times before I even sealed the envelope. I think this process (and my blogging honestly about it) will probably expose several of my more endearing traits, such as my obsessive worrying about stuff that is beyond my control and feeling like I am being judged. That is kind of how I feel right now. Our life was condensed onto a 6 page application in all of its imperfect glory and now someone will look through it and decide if we are worthy to bring children into our family. Plus I had to include pictures with me in them! Aaarrrrgggghhh. Let the judging begin.
Of course I am quite fortunate to have the support of people who have gone through this before. I shot off a quick email to Pam, she got right back to me, and once again reminded me that they are not out to exclude us, but trying to figure out our situation so that they can do their best for us. I know this is true, but it is hard exposing everything about yourself without worrying about what kind of ammunition people will have against you. Sounds like I have had some bad experiences in the past, eh? But that is past, and I will put my faith in God, and no matter what happens, I will have Travis, and my friends, and my family. Honestly, that is more blessing than I know what to do with, but here is hoping that we will get a little more on top of that.
So the waiting begins. It will take about 2 weeks until we hear back about our application. Hurry up and wait seems to be the theme of our journey to children, so we will at least be somewhat prepared for that aspect of this process. Which means lots of blogging for all of you to read and stay up to date with me. I will also be doing lots of research on Ethiopia, and hope to keep you all informed on my discoveries. I am also going to be listing links that I think might be good for everyone to check out just to get a feel for Ethiopia, for international adoption, and other stuff that may be of use for us all to be as prepared as we can be for accepting our new ones into the family. So keep checking, I'll try to be good at updating the links as well.
Of course I am quite fortunate to have the support of people who have gone through this before. I shot off a quick email to Pam, she got right back to me, and once again reminded me that they are not out to exclude us, but trying to figure out our situation so that they can do their best for us. I know this is true, but it is hard exposing everything about yourself without worrying about what kind of ammunition people will have against you. Sounds like I have had some bad experiences in the past, eh? But that is past, and I will put my faith in God, and no matter what happens, I will have Travis, and my friends, and my family. Honestly, that is more blessing than I know what to do with, but here is hoping that we will get a little more on top of that.
So the waiting begins. It will take about 2 weeks until we hear back about our application. Hurry up and wait seems to be the theme of our journey to children, so we will at least be somewhat prepared for that aspect of this process. Which means lots of blogging for all of you to read and stay up to date with me. I will also be doing lots of research on Ethiopia, and hope to keep you all informed on my discoveries. I am also going to be listing links that I think might be good for everyone to check out just to get a feel for Ethiopia, for international adoption, and other stuff that may be of use for us all to be as prepared as we can be for accepting our new ones into the family. So keep checking, I'll try to be good at updating the links as well.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Almost on Time
Well, I know that our deadline for our application was last week, but it will be going off in the mail tomorrow. It may be a bit behind what we wanted, but it was a long weekend of cleaning and LOTS of yard work. Now the front of our house has bushes and looks all pretty. It is very exciting. So today we will be taking pictures, developing pictures, and typing up the last of our stuff for our application.
Some of you may have noticed that the blog entry on CHI's web page about the Ethiopian referral does not have any pictures. There is a little blurb about it, the pictures will be back up after the adoption becomes finalized. Hopefully some of you saw it, if not, there are several adoption blog sites on which people have posted pictures of their trip and their kids. Very cute!
I will post some of the pics we take for our application so everyone can see us when we actually try to look nice. It does happen sometimes. :-0 Hope the rest of everyone's weekend is fantastic, take some time to relax!
Some of you may have noticed that the blog entry on CHI's web page about the Ethiopian referral does not have any pictures. There is a little blurb about it, the pictures will be back up after the adoption becomes finalized. Hopefully some of you saw it, if not, there are several adoption blog sites on which people have posted pictures of their trip and their kids. Very cute!
I will post some of the pics we take for our application so everyone can see us when we actually try to look nice. It does happen sometimes. :-0 Hope the rest of everyone's weekend is fantastic, take some time to relax!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Mid-Summer's Eve
Today is our 4 year anniversary! I can't believe it has already been that long, and yet it seems like there wasn't ever really a me without him. Nothing too fancy planned for the day, I had work, he had meetings, and Kali's obedience class is tonight. Then we are going to my parents' for a bit. So maybe tomorrow once we get some planting done in the front of the house and our application all wrapped up we can have some us time. Who knows, we might actually leave the house and go to the same place together. I know, it is a tall order, but after all, it is a special occasion. :-)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
CHI's First Ethiopian Referral
Besides the fact that this is so exciting, I thought that it would be something neat for all of you to check out. We have decided to go with Children's Hope International as our agency, they are amazing. We personally know two families that have gone through them, both with nothing but positive things to say about the experience. So far I have loved every second of interaction with them, everyone has been super nice and helpful. So this is a link to the CHI blog where you can find the article about the referral. If you click on the picture you will see the full size pic and you can actually see the picture of the baby boy very clearly. Last night when I saw it I cried, I just couldn't help it. He is so amazingly beautiful, and I know that it will be us in that picture someday. Love you all, enjoy the story.
http://www.childrenshopeint.blogspot.com/
http://www.childrenshopeint.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Our Story
We are adopting from Ethiopia!
I am sure everyone is wondering just what is going on, and how we got here. Just a quick warning, this entry is very candid and a bit personal, so consider yourself forewarned. Well, it has been about 2 years since we began trying to start our family, and so far we have not been blessed with an addition. As much as Travis and I love each other and enjoy our lives together (for the most part :-)) we have both felt the aching in our hearts at the absence of little Tara and Travi running around the house making more of a mess than the puppies could ever hope to. So we went to a specialist, we tried the drugs, the shots, the oh-so-romantic conception in the doctors office, and only came away with lots more gray hairs and lots less money. This was heartbreaking, but we knew we could only go so far with this route, and for us it was the end of that part of our journey.
The interesting part of this story was the possibility of adoption. Travis and I had talked about it before we found out our road to a family would be bumpy (with a speed limit of 5mph) and definately thought that it was something that was for us, regardless of us having any children of our own. We were going to stick to the two kid rule: replace ourselves and no more. If we wanted more kids, we would adopt. So God figured we could just skip out on all of the making sure we didn't have more than 2 of our own and cut right to the chase. Which I must say, once I got over not getting my way (why does this always take so long?) feels so stinkin' right and I am jumping for joy to get the show on the road. So the short version of this is - we were going to adopt anyways.
Many people ask, why international adoption? There are so many layers to this question, and to our answer that I will keep it short sweet and simple. I have always considered it my preferred choice, not exactly sure why, or where that comes from. And to be completely honest, there is appeal in the somewhat misconcieved idea that it is the only way to make sure someone doesn't come back in 10 years and try to take our baby. I am also keen on the idea of being able to open my heart and my home to give a child a chance in this world when they may not otherwise have one. I think it is a desire that God has placed in our hearts, and we are going for it!
So the big question for everyone I am sure (as it was for us as well); where are we going to search for our children? The answer, while not a total no-brainer, became quite clear to me - Ethiopia! Can I tell you exactly why? No. But I can tell you, I have always had a heart for Africa (I mean, pyramids, the Nile, gorillas, rainforest, ancient civilizations, need I go on?) Every time I searched for programs across the globe, I came back to Ethiopia. And I mean every time. So my simple, one word, authoritative answer to this question is GOD. The way that everything fell into place to lead my heart here, as well as all of the seemingly random events that occured to bring Travis to the same place, there could not possibly be another answer.
And so our story begins as we send off for documents and certificates, check all the boxes and fill in all the blanks so that we can get our application in the mail. Our personal deadline for this is THIS WEEK! It will then be about 2 weeks until we hear back about our application acceptance and start the paper chase. If all runs according to schedule, the estimated arrival date is approximately (on the long side) 12 months. Part of that depends on how quickly we get our paperwork in, then the rest depends on how quickly the courts and governments move.
I will keep everyone as updated as feasible with how things are progressing, feel free to ask questions, make comments, etc. I am insanely excited about doing this with all of the support that Travis and I have come to depend on from our families and friends. How did we get so lucky?
Love you all,
Tara
I am sure everyone is wondering just what is going on, and how we got here. Just a quick warning, this entry is very candid and a bit personal, so consider yourself forewarned. Well, it has been about 2 years since we began trying to start our family, and so far we have not been blessed with an addition. As much as Travis and I love each other and enjoy our lives together (for the most part :-)) we have both felt the aching in our hearts at the absence of little Tara and Travi running around the house making more of a mess than the puppies could ever hope to. So we went to a specialist, we tried the drugs, the shots, the oh-so-romantic conception in the doctors office, and only came away with lots more gray hairs and lots less money. This was heartbreaking, but we knew we could only go so far with this route, and for us it was the end of that part of our journey.
The interesting part of this story was the possibility of adoption. Travis and I had talked about it before we found out our road to a family would be bumpy (with a speed limit of 5mph) and definately thought that it was something that was for us, regardless of us having any children of our own. We were going to stick to the two kid rule: replace ourselves and no more. If we wanted more kids, we would adopt. So God figured we could just skip out on all of the making sure we didn't have more than 2 of our own and cut right to the chase. Which I must say, once I got over not getting my way (why does this always take so long?) feels so stinkin' right and I am jumping for joy to get the show on the road. So the short version of this is - we were going to adopt anyways.
Many people ask, why international adoption? There are so many layers to this question, and to our answer that I will keep it short sweet and simple. I have always considered it my preferred choice, not exactly sure why, or where that comes from. And to be completely honest, there is appeal in the somewhat misconcieved idea that it is the only way to make sure someone doesn't come back in 10 years and try to take our baby. I am also keen on the idea of being able to open my heart and my home to give a child a chance in this world when they may not otherwise have one. I think it is a desire that God has placed in our hearts, and we are going for it!
So the big question for everyone I am sure (as it was for us as well); where are we going to search for our children? The answer, while not a total no-brainer, became quite clear to me - Ethiopia! Can I tell you exactly why? No. But I can tell you, I have always had a heart for Africa (I mean, pyramids, the Nile, gorillas, rainforest, ancient civilizations, need I go on?) Every time I searched for programs across the globe, I came back to Ethiopia. And I mean every time. So my simple, one word, authoritative answer to this question is GOD. The way that everything fell into place to lead my heart here, as well as all of the seemingly random events that occured to bring Travis to the same place, there could not possibly be another answer.
And so our story begins as we send off for documents and certificates, check all the boxes and fill in all the blanks so that we can get our application in the mail. Our personal deadline for this is THIS WEEK! It will then be about 2 weeks until we hear back about our application acceptance and start the paper chase. If all runs according to schedule, the estimated arrival date is approximately (on the long side) 12 months. Part of that depends on how quickly we get our paperwork in, then the rest depends on how quickly the courts and governments move.
I will keep everyone as updated as feasible with how things are progressing, feel free to ask questions, make comments, etc. I am insanely excited about doing this with all of the support that Travis and I have come to depend on from our families and friends. How did we get so lucky?
Love you all,
Tara
Satement of Intent :-)
Well, I have been meaning to get this set up for some time now, and I guess this was the right time. Not exactly sure what the goal of this is going to be, I guess to help keep our friends and family up to date with everything. It will also be nice to have a place to just vent my gabillion thoughts/day on the whole process. (I am sure some people will be at least a bit appreciative to not have to be my constant sounding board - I love you and you are the best.) And I suppose if this in some way helps someone else out there with what they are going through or experiencing, then it will be a blessing for them and for me to have this be of some assistance.
I will probably do another entry to make a better introduction to what is going on, but I think that it is important to thank God right off the bat. Everything that has lead us to this point has been through His direct impact and influence on our lives. Strange how He pokes us and prods us in the right direction waiting for us to finally get the hint, how patient He must be! I know that this will be an amazing experience, much more so than I can possibly imagine at this point, and it all will be due to His amazing grace. So I hope you will join us, at least periodically, to see how our journey unfolds and how God will bless our lives.
I will probably do another entry to make a better introduction to what is going on, but I think that it is important to thank God right off the bat. Everything that has lead us to this point has been through His direct impact and influence on our lives. Strange how He pokes us and prods us in the right direction waiting for us to finally get the hint, how patient He must be! I know that this will be an amazing experience, much more so than I can possibly imagine at this point, and it all will be due to His amazing grace. So I hope you will join us, at least periodically, to see how our journey unfolds and how God will bless our lives.
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