Today, on Orphan Sunday, we have been on the waitlist to adopt our Ethiopian baby girl for two years!
We joined the waitlist in 2012 with so much hope and joy, and my prayer is that we continue having the same hope and joy now as we first did.
It is tough--rush, rush, rushing through 6 months of paperwork, just to wait, wait, wait. And it is tough starting this process with a timeframe of 2-3 years in our minds, and now 4-6.
Our first waitlist numbers were #139 for an infant girl and #63 for siblings. AGCI stopped giving out waitlist numbers, but I had been hearing rumors that if you asked, you would recieve!! SO, I asked. Last week!
We are......... #93 for an infant girl!!!!!
This number is lower than we expected, so that has been a breath of fresh air. We were thinking we may be between 100-110, and that was thinking positively. I think the lower number, unfortunately, doesn't necessarily represent the amount of referrals that have gone out, but rather, the number of families that may have left the program for another country or other reason due to the lengthened wait times.
I like our number, and it feels good to say that! I wasn't given a siblings number--I am not sure if we are technically on the siblings list right now, because our agency will not let a family adopt out of birth order, and Caris is 13 months....so our age range of acceptance right now is very slim--especially because they require a certain age range between children (I think it may be a year?). So, if it is a year they require, essentially we are only eligible for a 0-3 month old baby right now.
However, moving forward, if Caris is indeed around 5 years old by the time we are closer to referral, we may choose to open up our age range to accept a 0-4 year old girl or siblings. Or we may keep it at infant. We could also choose to be open to a boy, too! We will see where God leads us--and we are very excited about whatever that may include.
Thank you from my heart for praying us through this path God has led us on. It is long, and it is winding, but it is good.
Our agency is working with 2 orphanages to create new partnerships...this would give so many orphans a home, and AGCI would be the only agency partnering with the orphanages, which could bring some big movement to families in wait.
The seas have lifted up, Lord,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the Lord on high is mighty.
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the Lord on high is mighty.
Psalm 93:3-4
*Aren't these verses so good?? I looked up the commentary on them, and loved what I found. My Bible commentary states that 'the Lord has shown himself to be mightier than all the forces of disorder that threaten his kingdom. The thunder of the chaotic waters is no match for the thunder of the Lord's ordering word'.
**And then I looked up the commentary on verse 5, and found that God 'has made the world secure and has given his people life directives that are stable and reliable--and that they must honor'. This gave me reassurance that God has given Colin and I a directive to adopt from Ethiopia and we are called to honor Him with patience, love, and hope, no matter the cost.
