Our Ethiopia Adoption Journey

When I first heard that an AIDS test was required, I have to admit that I was a little taken aback.

Just the name of it has such a stigma in our culture today, making one think that if you are getting the test done, you must be promiscuous or an IV drug user.

But the reality is that many of the children in Ethiopia are given up for adoption due to the fact that one or both of their parents have died from this dreadful disease. Therefore it makes sense that the government would make this a requirement. I presume that they would have second thoughts about letting a healthy, non AIDS child go home with a parent that has been stricken with this death sentence-I know I would.

That would put these precious children in another situation of loss and could potentially expose them to the virus as well.

So with all of that being said, I will gladly go and have my blood drawn! Mr. Joe has already had his testing done, so now it shall be my turn.

By the way this is one of the last few things that need to be completed for all of the paper work…YAY!!

Nothing like being finger printed and having an AIDS test done all in the same week =)

We have sent in our tax forms for the last 4 years, picture of the house, family picture, and our notarized agreement to adopt, so now is where the real fun begins….

We were notified that we have “officially” qualified through Holt, although that “officially” doesn’t mean a whole lot =)
Our finances are acceptable and we have been married long enough to adopt from Ethiopia.

Now is when my head has started to spin!
We received an email with all the necessary paperwork needed to start our background checks, questionnaire on our thoughts about parenting, forms that need to be filled out by our family doctor, forms that need to be filled out by employers, forms that need to be filled out for health insurance……I’m sure I am forgetting a form or two, but I think you get the picture.

I’m trying not to get too overwhelmed, because I know that if we take the time to fill everything out it will be helpful in the future and I am thankful that Holt and the Ethiopian government is concerned for the welfare of the children being adopted.

Hopefully with Joe and I being very thorough, the adoption process will move smoothly.
I would hate to get all of the paperwork sent to Ethiopia and then have them come back with questions which could potentially stall the process.

*sappy warning*

*sappy warning*

Oh how hard this is for me.
I don’t know how to explain it. Paperwork is not what I want to do……I want to pick out a name, buy her clothes and toys, I want to go furniture shopping for a crib, playpen, high chair and all the fun stuff she will need.
I want to bring her home and hold her!
But I know that I have to get forms filled out before that can happen.
Putting the cart before the horse is sometimes my specialty, but I know what must be done, so I shall conquer this paperwork and thank God every time I write an sentence.
He is in charge.
He has a plan.
He has chosen our child just specifically for us.
He is good ALL the time!

Proverbs 31:27
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness

Mrs. J

So…..we officially started the adoption process this evening.  We decided to keep a blog of our experiences for several reasons.  We know there are a lot of friends and family who want to keep in touch with the current happenings and there are a lot of people who are looking to start the adoption process but have no real idea what to expect where to start or what it is going to be like.  So we will do our best to document our process, obstacles, lessons learned and hopefully allow you to share in our joy.

We decided to go through Holt International as we feel God is calling us to adopt in Ethiopia.  There has been resounding and very re0curring events that keep aligning our attention there.

If the act of doing and submitting the application is any indication of what this journey is going to be like, then it will be a very long process.  It took over an hour to submit the application, not because we did not have the information ready or because the questions were difficult but rather, because the last page to submit the payment information was not on a secured page and in trying to find a secure page to give them the payment info, reset and deleted all of the information we had entered.  This happened not once, not twice but three times.

The way I see it, Satan ain’t at all happy with our decision to adopt so he is going to test my patience at every turn.  Yikes!  I know God has something tremendous in store for us.  I now see I am not where He wants me,  so He is taking me on a journey I did not envision.  (Isn’t that a surprise (: ).

I can look at this one of two ways.  Either its going to be a long way tater or I need to hurry up and start doing the things He wants me to do and stop doing the things He doesn’t want me to do (impatience) so I can move beyond this obstacle.

- Joe