Saturday, September 1, 2012

So far no morning sickness, but the paper cuts hurt like crazy!!

Okay, so we totally stole the title from an adoption shirt, but it's very fitting for what we are going through right now.

Tomorrow we will be meeting with Tinya, our social worker, to complete our yearly update.  I know, it's  been more than a year since we started this ride, but September 1st marked the date our last home study was completed, authenticated, etc.

As many of you know, adoption comes with a lot of paperwork.  A LOT.  But, if you live like we do and have several "major life changes" (that's adoption language) in a year, you have A TON of paperwork.

To sum it up, without risking any more paper cuts, here are just a few of the changes we will be making in our update:
1.  New House
2.  Nicole's employment change
3.  Sibling gender parameters

So you probably already knew about the new house.  You may or may not know that Nicole has resigned from teaching.  (Yes, I know, it's shocking!)  Most likely you are surprised by #3.  One of the many perks of our new home is that we have four bedrooms.  This means we can now adopt siblings of different genders.  Our agency is a big stickler about separate bedrooms for siblings of different genders, even twin infants! So, now that we have more than enough room, we would be oh so happy to bring a boy and a girl into our home.  Time will tell.

Okay, back tracking a little to #2, Nicole is no longer teaching.  Sad, but true.  Unfortunately she did not receive a teaching position near our new home, so she's taking the year off.  By that we mean she is still working part-time and tutoring, but no longer spends three hours in the car driving to and from the elementary school.  This is a bit scary as we will not be able to save as much each month for the adoption, but THE LORD WILL PROVIDE!

Lastly, we want to give you our numbers.  Let's give you a quick, hopefully not too confusing, explanation on how the numbers work.  When an orphan/orphans are cleared for adoption, the agency will start with family #1 to see if they are a good fit for the child/children.  If not, they move up to #2, #3, etc.  So, the closer you get to one the better chance you have of receiving a referral.  A referral is adoption language for matching a child with their forever family.  We usually receive our updated numbers on the first of each month.

We were placed on the wait list in June.

No numbers in July. : (  August 1st looked like this:

Now before we reveal September numbers, there is something you must know.  August and September are considered the rainy season in Ethiopia.  The courts sometimes close during this time.  From what we hear this year has been better and they have continued to work in the rainy season.  However, we didn't want you to be shocked by the very little progress on the wait list.

Our most recent wait list numbers are....

Please continue praying for strength in our journey, faith in His timing, and peace to the orphans around the world.

With love,
John and Nicole


Just in case you want to see those numbers side by side, here you go!





4 comments:

  1. Wow!!! That is SUCH fantastic progress!! Praise the Lord for His provision and perfect timing. He know the children that will soon be in your arms, and knows when... Maybe they're not even born yet... Amazing to think about. I know it's so hard to wait, but remember that "the Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." (Exodus 14:14) So excited for y'all. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mrs. Scott,

    I loved reading this post to hear what you are up to. I was sad to see you not on the Austin directory anymore, but it sounds like the Lord has a different plan for you. You were the perfect teacher for Allen and an answer to my prayers. I think we moved her just for you to influence him for two years. Not sure if you heard (maybe Abby told you during her assessments) but we are moving to CA August of 2013 for a new law clerk position for Ross.

    Thanks for the blog comments on my blog. To answer your questions, Allen loved reading books from the Goosebumps series as well as Geronimo Stilton, plus lots of non-ficton. And Baby #5 is due in March. I didn't know you came from a family of 5 kids. Cool.

    Do you have a personal email?

    ReplyDelete
  3. So exciting to watch your journey as we go through ours! I am praying for you guys! We have been chosen to be the feature family on the blog Give1Save1 the week of October 22nd. You can go there that week and see the adoption video some friends of ours made for us and it also gives people a chance to donate to us. If you guys have a video you should submit it to Give1Save1. Some friends of ours did really well raising funds when they were the feature family!

    ReplyDelete