No news is not good news

Unfortunately in the world of adoption, no news is not necessarily good news. I haven't been posting updates because the rumors don't seem worthy of being reported. Unlike China, news does leak out, but it doesn't seem to ever pan out. There have been rumors reasonable enough to believe, like that the ministry would be meeting "next week" to approve travel for families with referrals (who have been waiting since September-- talk about torture) and as ridiculous as "all 2009 families will get referrals by March." There's about as much chance as that happening as a speed up in China.

So, we wait. Thankfully, it has been a patient wait thus far, and I'm expectantly asking God for that to continue.

I'm also praying that God will use this wait time to allow us to foster a Haitian orphan. I have no idea if it will pan out, but there's talk of this being permitted since the situation is so dire in Haiti. How cool would it be for God to turn the many empty homes (and hearts) of waiting families into places of refuge for otherwise homeless and hopeless orphans?? I'm thankful that the world's attention seems to be focused on the many orphans in Haiti, and I already know of at least one family who has decided to adopt because of it. Lord, let the sense of urgency to place the world's orphans in families extend beyond this crisis!

Lily named her little brother

Kyle: Lily, what is your little brother's name going to be?

Lily: Uncle Paul.

Kyle: That's right, he's from Nepal, but what should his name be?

Lily: Tow truck.

I'm thinking it may have something to do with the fact that she loves Ca*rs characters lately (she's wearing "Lightening Mr. Queen" jammies as we speak).

Grandy thinks it will be a good name for a lineman. "That masterful block by Tow Truck Harrell opened up a hole for Canady to score, and now the Niners lead the Cowboys 49- 0."

It's 3:00 - do you know where your child is?

Your next child, I mean.

Could he or she be in Nepal?

If you don't already have children of both genders

are between the ages of 30-55

and are either a single woman or have been married for at least 4 years

then Nepal may be the program for you.

Nepal is a beautiful country with a rich heritage

and extreme poverty.

If you think God may be whispering in your ear

about a child from Nepal,

send me an email and I'll give you the name of 2 agencies

who have current openings for their Nepal programs.

You don't have to have a spare room

$25,000 in the bank

or a book on Nepal.

"God is not impressed by our ability,

nor is He hindered by our disability.

He is simply seeking our availability."

Dossier Complete!

Our I-171 finally came yesterday so this morning I faxed everything to be ok'd by our agency (it was), our friend comes to notarize the last few documents this afternoon, then off it goes with a big ol' check to our agency, then off to Nepal. Phew!

So now what? I wish I knew. It really just means that we join the line of families waiting to be matched with a child from Nepal. To my knowledge the families who have been matched so far sent their dossiers in February and March. This may or may not mean that we will receive a match within the next 7 or 8 months. It will likely be longer.

In other good news, our agency received it's first 2 referrals this week for families who sent their dossiers earlier this year. That is very exciting!

Thanks for praying for us and for our little boy while we wait. I'll keep you posted!

Still no I-171, but referrals keep coming

It is so exciting that more families are receiving referrals and travel approvals, but it's making me even more anxious to get that stupid piece of paper in the mail from Homeland Security! I mean, I'm so glad they are busy keeping our homeland secure, but we would like our home more full, and we can't do that without one more piece of paper with the word "Approved" at the top. There is an adoption officer at the local USCIS office who is in charge of the adoption approvals so I guess I'll send him an email tomorrow to see what the hold up is. I probably won't word it that way though.

In other more exciting news, Little Brother has received his first gift. My friend Kim knitted him the cutest brown and light blue lovey-- it is SO soft! How fun to have something that's his. Thank you Kimmie! Since he doesn't have his own room I don't quite know what to do with it. I used to put gifts for Lily in her room (and close the door) but that little lovey won't stand a chance if it's in Big Sister's room this whole time. We're planning on the kids sharing a room so that we still have a guest room, but it doesn't make sense to change it around yet. Not that we'll need to do much changing. There's already a spare toddler bed in there that just needs some retro cowboy bedding on it instead of a Dora blanket and we're good to go. I think we'll need another dresser too (or do boys need a whole dresser for their 3 pieces of clothing?). And perhaps I'll make the window treatment more boy-friendly and get rid of the pink flowers on the mirror. And the
floral trays on the wall. Dang. I guess it's not ready to go.

And my friend Cara told me that she's been praying for LB's birthmom lately. Maybe she's giving birth? Struggling with the decision to give him up? Missing him? I immediately felt a rush of guilt when she told me, because I've been focusing on praying for him and not really praying for his family. But that's why God gave me Cara-- to pray for LB's mama because He knew I wasn't. The body of Christ is so cool (I just hate when I'm the hiney).

Officially Expecting

Our I-171 (immigration approval) that is. It's the last thing we're waiting for to complete our dossier and be officially in line. I just looked back at the dates and I think it's reasonable to start expecting it as early as this week. (Yes, I just used reasonable when describing an action by a government agency. Silly me.) So perhaps it's not smart to start expecting it, but I'm doing it anyway-- I officially check for it every time I get the mail. I think seeing the movement in Nepal has made me start to realize that we aren't sending our dossier in vain, so it makes me even more ready to get it there. C'mon, mail!

Nepal Adoption Blogs

I've added links to the left of 3 families who are adopting from Nepal, and two of them are in Nepal now! It is so exciting to be able to follow their journeys and see a glimpse of what it may be like for us. I say "may" because these are the first few families to travel so things may change once we travel. If I can be so picky two of the changes I'm hoping for-- that we have more than 3 days' notice to travel, and that we have an identified return date. But I'm not going to be picky-- if these families can get ready in 3 days for an indefinite trip, we can too. If I can remember clearly, I was completely useless in the 2 weeks before we left for China, so we may as well leave in 3 days.

One thing that I've learned on the travel blogs that Nepal does differently than China is that you visit your child in the orphanage for a few days before you take him with you to the hotel. That is so much better for attachment, and far less traumatic. I'm sure it will be very difficult to leave the little fella at the orphanage once we've met him, but knowing it will help his transition to us will help us walk out that door.

The other blog in my Nepal Adoption List is my friend Tonya's, who I am SO glad to have met. My friend Amy, told me about Tonya when she found out we were adopting from Nepal. Tonya and her family were in China adopting their daughter Noelle just 2 months before we were there, and they also used America World. They have a cool story about how they came to choose Nepal for their next adoption, so go check it out on their blog.

Anyway, they live in Maine so we haven't actually met, but we've talked on the phone a couple of times and guess what-- although they were with a different agency at first, they are now using our same agency, so there is a chance that we may travel together to get our boys since we're pretty much on the same timeline with our dossiers. How cool would that be? I never even thought to pray for a Nepal friend, and God gave me one anyway! Adopting from Nepal seems quite lonely compared to China-- there is no Rumor Queen , no Families with Children from Nepal, no Nepali First Baptist Church, the next Olympics aren't in Kathmandu ... you get the idea... so it's even more special to have someone to talk with, pray with, and wait with on this journey.

And now I'm praying that we'll also be able to receive our referrals at the same time and travel together too. They are also requesting a boy aged 1-3, so I'm also praying that our little fellas are at the same orphanage so that they can maintain their connection after they are adopted. If we receive our referrals within the next year (I don't know how likely that is, so don't go holding me to that) and the boys are 3 at referral, they may be about 2 right now. Will you pray with us that our boys are not only well taken care of, but loved and cherished? And will you pray that God has already begun to whisper in each of their ears, words of love and belonging, and that He would give them visions of who their families are so they *know* us when we arrive? It's never too early to pray for these specifics, and while you're at it, you may as well ask that they are good sleepers, especially on airplanes.