First off we'd like to say thank you to all the responses we've been given to our news of
adding another little one to our family, we genuinely feel loved and supported by all of our family friends (both cyber and "real life" :) )
I'll do my best to attempt to answer some of the questions we've gotten so far, because there's been quite a few, and we know you're all so excited for us! We aren't able to share much about our second adoption online, but we'd love to tell you in person! But here's a few of the big questions and answers:
Where is he from?! We can't share that right now, I'll leave you with West Africa
Are your boys siblings? Not yet :) They are from different countries, but will be brothers :)
How far apart will your boys be: Well, our newest venture, we'll call him "little man" he's around 2, we're guessing he'll be close to 3 when we bring him home, our Ethiopian son will be anywhere between 0-18 months when we're matched with him. So they'll be maybe a year and a half apart we're thinking.
Are you sill adopting from Ethiopia? Yes! We are! Our Ethiopian adoption is fully paid for (well at least we have all the funds in order for it to be paid for :) ) This is how our two adoptions will work. Once little man gets home we will spend all our time focusing on bonding and attachment with him, teaching him about his new family, 6 months after he's home we'll assess how's he's doing, and if he's attaching and bonding well, we'll let America World (our agency for Ethiopia) know that we're ready to be matched. We don't loose our "spot" in line, just move up and aren't able to receive a referral (match) until little man has been home 6 months, so with the way things are looking in Ethiopia we'll have great timing between the 2 adoptions.
Do you have to come up with all that money again?! Yes :) We do, not as much as before, but we do. We watched God provide in amazing ways for our Ethiopian adoption and don't doubt He will show up big again. Luckily, we are able to use some of our same paperwork for our second adoption so that will save some money for sure. The amazing thing is, when Justin and I were praying about this second adoption, the biggest part was how we were going to pay for it. Is no secret that we don't make that much money. We've always had our needs met and have never went without anything we've needed. 2 days in a row we were both approached about some part time jobs. Tutoring for me, and refereeing sporting games for Justin, they're not long term jobs, but they are an amazing way to bring in some extra money that will go straight towards our adoption. Definitely confirmation. We had already made some pretty big cuts to live more simply, and that helped in saving some extra money that will help us out in the beginning of all the paperwork fun.
When we he be here?! This one is a favorite, and I wish I had an exact date to give you-but not yet :) The soonest we could pick him up would be the end of July, we're telling people "Fall" that way we have a few months and don't get our hopes up for a specific date :) Right now we're working on paperwork like ca-razy people, the sooner that gets done the sooner we can send it over :)
How can we help? Pray, pray for our little man, he's had a lot happen in his little life, he is being cared for right now and for this we are very thankful-he's getting 3 meals a day and has a place to sleep and play-this is a big deal. Pray as we begin this process again, it's exhausting but so so worth it, and it's easier this time around with a cue picture staring at us while we pushing paperwork for sure. Pray for our time, we're entering an incredibly busy season with Justin's work and from the end of March on, we're pretty much on crazy mode. Pray for us as we prepare to parent this sweet boy. We feel so blessed that God choose us for him and so thankful we were sought out for him.
Thanks for playing a part in our story, we can't wait to watch it unfold more.
"My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him."
-Derek Loux