Mother's Day this year for me was a bit bittersweet. I am sooooo very thankful for the family that I have - an amazing husband, who loves me for me (and that is saying alot), and 3 amazing boys who fill up my heart with unconditional love! Who wouldn't be happy with that, right? However, this year my heart was also in Ethiopia - a bit torn... just couldn't help but think about our little one there without us in their life yet - an orphan waiting to be matched with our family. Did you know that there are 5700 children worldwide that are orphaned EVERY day. That number is heartbreaking... to know that a child is growing up each day without the things in their life that we all deserve, especially a child - love, stability, safety, food, family, etc. So while my heart was filled up celebrating the 3 reasons why I am a mom today, I was a bit sad that our family was not yet complete and that there are so many waiting orphans out there!
As I am in a family with all boys, I usually get interesting presents for Mother's Day, to say the least! I have gotten the token blender or plug-in appliance - poor husband had a difficult time living those "presents" down :) I have gotten my share of hand-made gifts and/or handmade cards from each son - presents that are all near and dear to my heart. In recent years, I have gotten flowers, captured bugs/creatures, jewelry, clothes, etc. I am one lucky and blessed mom, and I hope I have taught our sons well about how to buy a gift for the beloved female in their futures - LOL! This year I got the newest Iphone. Grant it, I did want one, but, as I am technologically illiterate at best, I was a bit scared to own one. Of course, our 3 sons promptly began to tutor me about all of its functions and to introduce me to Siri - my personal phone attendant. Yep, that is right. I have a phone "butler". To a person that owned a flip out keyboard phone (non-touch) and had never texted another human being before, this was awe-inspiring, to say the least. I'll just say it... We have come a long way, baby!
As we were all fooling around with the phone to see what it could do, one of our sons said that the phone has a world clock on it... can search any country for it's time at any given moment or have the ability to save world time clocks to your phone, so, at the touch of a button, you know the time in specific places. I was thrilled. I have parents and a sister/brother-in-law and nephews that live in Arizona, and I can never remember how far behind they are in time, as this timing changes twice a year. I uploaded Arizona's clock for easy reference - nice! Then a few minutes later, our oldest son typed in Addis Ababa and said, "Mom, did you know that Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us?" A bit of a lump developed in my throat. I immediately downloaded Addis Ababa's clock to my phone :) That Iphone app, in my eyes, just brought me to more than a firm place in the 21st century. In a small way, I can carry a piece of Addis Ababa and our little one there wherever I go!!!! I know it may sound sappy, but I feel a bit closer to this very special country that holds a bit of all of our family member's hearts! When I feel sad or impatient about how long the process takes to adopt, I can look at this clock and picture what he or she may be doing at such and such a time and pray for them. It is so comforting and helps to make things real, as that is hard to do, when you are just simply filling out paperwork. That Iphone is more than just a phone for me right now - it's a link to our Ethiopian child! We then used the internet on the phone to Google Ethiopia and all that it has to offer. We looked at maps of the country, special places there, famous landmarks, etc. We made our day brighter by learning more about where our newest addition will come from. We all grew a little closer to Ethiopia, because of that silly Iphone! It was a wonderful Mother's Day after all (and wonderful gift at that), as we were able to include our little one from so far away!
I wanted to update you all a bit as to where we are in the process of our adoption since our home study visits over spring break in April. Our home study is complete, and is at the main All God's Children office in Portland, OR. Once it is approved (hopefully some time this week), it will be sent to us, so that we can send it to Texas to get our immigration papers approved and approval to get special fingerprinting through the Homeland Security office. Once this step is complete and we have our fingerprints (about 6-8 weeks), we send this paperwork, along with our dossier (Ethiopian documents needed from us - letter of intention to adopt, certificates of birth/marriage, passports, etc), back to Portland for translation into Amheric (the Ethiopian dialect). When it's translated, it is sent out to Ethiopia to the AGCI agency in Addis Ababa (hopefully by the end of the summer) to be used to match our family to an orphan there in one of their orphanages. WE praise God for how quickly this process has all moved along!!!! We really have had no glitches in this process, so far. PTL!
Thank you all for your continued support in prayer for our family! I would ask, that if you are reading this blog today, would you be willing to pause and take a minute to pray for the 5700 kiddos that were orphaned just today and the more than 160 million orphans worldwide, waiting for a forever home? Please pray about your own family status. Is the Lord calling you to adopt? If you think you financially can't handle this option, remember, the Lord blesses those that are a blessing. I know, without a doubt, the Lord will help you with this component. We have experienced that blessing. If you think your spouse is resistant, but you feel the call on your heart, please pray that your spouse's heart will be changed. We have experienced this change in our lives that only the Lord could bring about! If the Lord is knocking on your door today, maybe this is a wonderful opportunity to either answer the knock and move forward with adoption or, at the very least, commit your family to pray regularly for the millions of orphaned out there worldwide! Thank you, again, for your support of the orphaned in any way!!!!! Blessings :)
