New Week, New Family! The Coalsons!

Hey guys!
This family is so cute, I love their video-it's like a letter to their little girl! Meet The Coalsons

So they're adopting a little girl from Africa, and currently waiting on their court date.  They had been with an agency for over 2 years, saw their little girl on the waiting children's list and then said yes to her! They're walking forward in obedience towards their daughter, let's help them get a little closer to her!

so for some funny reason, the Pure Charity widget won't post here in the blog post...but it's over on the right  hand side of the page so you can keep up with their donations and get to their page that way OR you can click their link 

https://www.purecharity.com/coalsonfamilyadoption

Please pray, give and share!

New Week, New Family-The Updegraffs!

Hey y'all
I hope you had a super awesome Father's Day and that all the daddies and daddies to be felt loved. I'm so excited for you to meet this week's family The Updegraffs!

They're adopting a little girl from Ethiopia, and their dossier is complete! They're just waiting for that hefty dossier payment ( if you've sent off your dossier you know that one's a big chunk) Anywho-let's help take some of that burden off them and help them to get that dossier sent off to Ethiopia so they can officially be on the wait list! 

A Little Hirth Update

Hey guys, remember this lady?

Bob and Lindsay are in Ethiopia right now getting ready for court. There will be one more Hirth this week. I can't wait to see pictures! We'll beg her for a post next week, ok?

Today, can we just send our love and prayers with them? Prayers for their little girl, that she be protected while they are gone. Prayers for safe travels, a lightning fast embassy clearance, and God's peace in this last wait.

Do you have any prayers requests today?

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

-Philippians 4:7

wait for it.

hey yall, I'm Wynne.  

and this is my husband, Stephen and our two Ethiopian kiddies - Camp + Asher. 

I've been here & there but always feeling a part of this give1save1 family.  Our week on give1save1 came at just the right time, allowing us to have the exact amount of money we needed to accept the referral of a little boy.  Now, God has done some amazing things since then and we  now have TWO little ones to love.  They have been home just over 6 weeks and my husband & I still look at each other daily and say, "is this real life?".  

I wanted to give you a little update on our family, and as I was sitting down to write it I totally felt like the Lord pushing me instead to give some encouragement to those in the waiting.  

I was reading in Habakkuk, and this scripture (marked "adoption" in my bible) really spoke to me. 

"and the Lord answered me.  Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.  For still the vision awaits its appointed time, it hastens to the end - it will not lie.  If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay."  Habbakkuk 2:2-3

We waited for a little over 2 years for our two.  There were some DARK days.  Days were we didn't trust in Gods promise, days we didn't know if we would get our daughter home, days that the dawn seemed like it was never going to come.  (you should probably download "Before the Morning" by Josh Wilson and put it on repeat). 

So I just wanted to encourage those of you in the waiting.  God has spoken, and He has a child(ren) prepared for you to love.  You might not understand His timing now, or you might not ever understand it.  But His timing is perfect.  His vision and plan for your family awaits it's appointed time.  If it seems slow, wait for it!  it will surely come!  it will not delay!  

then I promise, the day you have your baby(ies) home, and you are sitting on the floor of your living room reading that scripture again (while listening to Before the Morning), you will bawl your eyes out at Gods faithfulness.  

His timing is PERFECT.  

wait for it, believe in it, pray circles around it.

it will come!

What is Rainy Season? And Why?

(source, if you'd like to buy. i totally would) 

In an effort to be more informative, let's go into some basics of Ethiopian adoption. LOTS of people who read this blog are just considering adoption and are still choosing which program best suits them, but remember in the beginning when you didn't know how to say dossier (it's doss-ee-ay)? I do. There's so much to figure out. Well, here's a basic of Ethiopian adoption: Rainy Season.

So let's back up, actually, and find out why Rainy Season effects anybody's mental health. Here's the steps for an Ethiopian adoption:

1. Apply for your program. Start your home study and paperchase, which typically lasts 3-6 months.
2. Get in line for your referral. A referral is what they call the matching process. Your referral is a big honkin' deal when they send you pictures and background and medical info on the child that fits your criteria.
3. Once you have a referral you wait another month or so to be issued a court date. You travel to Ethiopia, meet your child, and then legally become their parent. Then you generally have to say goodbye, get on a plane and go home and try to keep it together for another month or two or three.
4. Finally US Embassy will clear your child for travel and let you know that you can come pick them up, so you happily do.

Now, back to Rainy Season. Ethiopian courts generally close from mid-August til mid-October. Regions of the country are just so rainy that apparently daily life just needs to stop for a while. I'm actually not too clear on the specifics, but it's just one of those things we plan on accepting. The tricky part is when comes when you need a court date and courts are about to close. It's hard to think of your child aging another two months without any progress. Ethiopian courts announced the closure yesterday from August 22-October 1st. This is actually shorter and later than most, so it's great news for waiting families, my own included. It means more families will be official sooner than later, so we're rejoicing about that! So that's that. Some essentials of Ethiopian adoption. Somebody want to do a guest post about the essentials of Congolese adoption? I'd love to hear about the process.