Big News!

Tuesday started out a pretty normal day for me.  Greg got up early (even earlier than normal) to catch a plane to NYC for work, Braden left for school and then I got Caris & Cade off to school.  I headed home, ate some breakfast and got on the treadmill.  About 3 miles in to my workout the caller ID showed up on the t.v. with a phone number that I didn't know.  (I can't hear the phone ring over the treadmill and t.v. noise so I rely on the caller ID popping up on the t.v.)  I didn't answer it ... I'm not interrupting my workout for a telemarketer!  Immediately after that call my cell phone rang and the caller ID showed a phone number out of Michigan.  My heart skipped a beat!  I knew that Bethany Christian Services in Michigan would be the ones to call us with a referral.  Could this be it or did they have such bad news about the program changes that they were calling me with the details rather than emailing us?  Both options flashed through my head.  I didn't get to my phone in time and the call went to voicemail so I listened to it right away.  It was Kim from the Michigan office asking me to call her back but she didn't say why and her voice did not sound overly happy so I was so nervous.  Luckily, I called her back immediately and she picked right up.  She had a referral for us!  Simply amazing.

To give you a little more of an update since my last blog, we've been on a roller coaster of emotions.  In December we heard that the moratorium was not going to be lifted until June.  We were o.k. with that and had expected that delay.  Then, in early January we found out that it was very possible that when they reopened for international adoptions that they may make changes to their travel requirements and Ghana would require a 3 month in country stay before we could adopt a child.  That was so crushing for us knowing that it would be nearly impossible for Greg to work from Ghana for so long and for us to be gone from the kids for that long.  Would we take them with us?  Would we have to change countries?  (many of you comforted me in church that morning not even knowing why I was so upset - we had found that information out right before I left for church and I could not hold it together!  Sorry Pastor Brian, I have no idea what your sermon was about that day, I was figuring out how we could all move to Ghana for 3 months)  We decided to just wait it out until we knew the new requirements for sure - we had waited this long so why not continue to trust the Lord's timing and not our own.  Then, later in January, Bethany informed us that they had been told they could begin processing adoptions again ... even though the moratorium has not officially been lifted yet.  We were excited but hesitant, would the government really process them and grant court dates?  A few families received referrals and things were beginning to move again.  We are praying that those families will be granted their court dates soon, they are expecting to travel in March sometime.  We started praying that either we would get a referral soon (to be processed before the new in country stay requirements would take effect) or that we wouldn't get a referral until the new requirements were well known and official.

So, back to my Tuesday story.  Kim told me about our referral and said she would be emailing us all of the information to review.  I could not even think straight!  I hung up and dialed Greg ... at his desk in Milwaukee.  After a few rings and thoughts of "dang, he's in a meeting, how can he be in a meeting at a time like this!?" I realized he wasn't even there, he was on a plane!  NOOOO!  I need him right now!  So, I dialed his cell and amazingly he had just walked off the plane and turned it on - perfect timing.  It was so hard to be apart from each other this week during this exciting time.  We couldn't read each other's faces or wipe tears away (both happy and sad ones).  Most of all, we didn't want to tell the kids until we could do it face to face with both of us so I had to keep it under wraps for a few days!  (sorry friends for the limited eye contact I made with you this week, I am a horrible liar so it was best to just try and avoid people!)

The Lord has answered our prayer by sending us a beautiful (believe me!) little girl.  She will be 6 years old on March 8th.  She is living with a foster family which is a huge blessing.  She has never been in an orphanage and was with her mother up until last summer.  BIG blessing!  This little girl will have deep hurt from the separation from her birth mom and sisters but she has been loved and cared for and has been part of a family for her first 5 years.  God is good.  Over the last several years our eyes have been opened to the fact that adoption is not pretty, adoption is not "fun", adoption is full of hurt and grief, adoption is not anyone's first option.  We are this little girls 2nd option and we will do our best to love her like Jesus does.  We have cried tears this week thinking of what our little girl and her mother have been through in the last 7 months.  I cannot imagine.  I really hope we get the opportunity to meet her birth mom and sisters when we travel but I don't know if that will be possible.  

Please continue to pray for her and for us.  There is much to be done on both ends.  We are guessing we will travel for court in late April or May sometime.  We will get to meet her and spend time with her that week, become her legal parents in court and then we will come back without her.  :(  After we pass court and come home, we apply for her US Visa and her passport - when those are ready we will go back for another week to get her.  It's hard to know how long that will take so for now we are guessing that will be sometime between Labor Day and Christmas that we will bring her home to Wisconsin.

Please pray for Braden, Caris & Cade.  This will be a huge adjustment for them too.  Not all of them were happy to hear we were adopting just one child ... and that it was a girl.  (any guesses as to which 2 were not as happy? ;)  We were glad they expressed their true feelings and told them it was o.k. to be shocked and to initially be disappointed - I know they were all hoping for at least one brother so we expected that reaction and it will take time to sink in.  (we video taped us telling them and we are already laughing at their different reactions)  Braden is worried about how he will bond with a little sister - what would he possibly do with her?  We tried to assure him that she too may want to shoot hoops and play will a ball.  (is that a love language because I think it could be Braden's :)  Our little girl is only 4 months younger than Cade so she may not be the "little" sister he was thinking of in his head.  We've tried to assure him that she will always be younger and she will not be in his grade in school.   Caris, of course, is over the moon.  She is ready to share her bedroom.  (at least one of them was excited! ;)

This process has really helped us to feel and know God's love bigger than we ever imagined.  Like I said before, adoption is not fun or easy, it is what we as His children are called to do and we already love our little girl in Ghana so much without even knowing her.  God has definitely been showing me how I am not fun or easy either, but He has adopted me and loves me nonetheless.  How great the Father's love for us!  Love beyond all measure.

So, don't be surprised over the next few months if I cry at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason and sob during church.  It's going to happen, I know it already.  I'm sure the adoption roller coaster ride is only beginning so I'm doing exactly what I do when I bring Braden on our annual mother/son trip to Great America ... loading with dramamine, taking ibuprofen, and closing my eyes.  Here we go!!!!!  The ride of our lives.  We can't wait to meet our little girl and see more of God's goodness before us.