Almost in the "window"

Next week will mark our dossier being in country for 3 months!!! Yes, 3 months.  While I had hoped, against odds, that we would have had our referral by now, it wasn't super realistic of me.  But that's why we call it hope :) From the beginning we were told a 3-6 month wait for a referral is realistic but sometimes they come sooner.  The Jenkins don't fall into the "sometimes" category in this case.  Although, I would be elated to retract that statement if we get a referral before next Thursday! So with quite a bit of excitement we enter "the window" of 3-6 months.  We have been fairly warned that because we want 2 kids our wait will be closer to 5-6 months.  Doesn't make much sense to you?  Me either...at first.  We thought (with some guidance from those in the know) our case would go faster because we want 2 kids.  So if a sibling group came through we would be bumped up on the list.  While normally that's the case...there has been a sudden wave of families who want 2 kids also.  And 12 of them are ahead of us on the list!  While that makes me happy that families are stepping up and taking in 2 kids that don't have a home...I'm honestly bummed that we have to wait longer.  I trust that God knows my kids and provided just a time as this for us to grow our family. 

So to sum up, we're still waiting and we still need your prayers.  That God would prepare us for travel away from the girls, for bringing 2 more kids home, for the girls to adjust, and to be prepared for whatever comes with bringing kids into the Jenkins family that have likely suffered loss and are grieving and lots of other transitional things that comes with international adoption.  We are so excited and cannot wait to get them home.  We are hoping that God would allow them to get home before Christmas, but if not we will have Christmas when they get here!

So thankful for our friends and family who keep encouraging us on this long journey!

An Officer and some CPK...not a bad week

So after almost 5 weeks, my impatience got the best of me and I called the good old USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services) to check on the status of our I600A.  And we were told that on the 13th we had been assigned an officer to review our application.  I was informed that it typically takes 1-2 weeks to receive our approval after being assigned an officer.  While I was hoping for something sooner, I'm excited to know something and that our case is being processed.  And we are still beating the average on the USCIS site, that says it is typically taking 75 days to approve them so basically don't bother us until it's been 75 days.  So I won't bother them, I'll just pray that the officer we are assigned is efficient and having a good week so we can get our approval this week instead of mid-June (which is 75 days from when they received our application).  The approval is at the discretion of each individual officer and my agency told me today that some officers have been known to deny applicants when the applicant calls too often to check their status.  While this is unfair, I'm sure it is frustrating to not be able to do your job because anxious parents like me keep interrupting your work.  Once we get the approval we can get our referral ANY DAY!!! This week our dossier will have been in Ethiopia a month and we are so excited to see the faces of our children!
In other news, California Pizza Kitchen is hosting a fundraiser for us tomorrow and is donating 20% of sales to those who bring in a flyer for our adoption.  While any fundraiser is super exciting, I love CPK and haven't eaten there in probably 2 years, so I am especially looking forward to eating dinner with family and friends around some incredible food! If anyone wants to join us let me know and I can email you a flyer!

Officially Out of My Hands

My part of the paperwork is done! Our dossier has been submitted! It will spend the next few weeks being transported by FedEx around the country to be authenticated before making its way to Ethiopia. Once it's there it will be translated and the match process will begin! This part is way better than chasing paper work!

In the mean time our request to immigration has been made and hopefully within the next 4 weeks we'll receive notice to go get fingerprinted.  Then another 4 weeks or so later we'll get our official approval to bring our kiddos home! We cannot receive our referral until we get this, but they can begin matching us and the match pend upon us getting approved by the government. 

My agency told me today there have been unofficial reports that the Ethiopian government is seeing up to 20 cases a day!!! This is super exciting! I'm praising the Lord for this answered prayer! Way better than five...and actually close to what they were seeing prior to the change. 

So now we wait and pray for our kids.  I am so excited to hear who they are!  While that is at least a couple months away, I'll wait in anticipation, not anxiety, because I can trust in the One who created my kids...all of them.

Do Not Be Anxious About Anything

This blog is getting real honest.  Just a heads up.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6-7

It was officially announced this week that adoption cases processed by the Government of Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth will be reduced from 40 something a day to 5.  For us, best case scenario, it means significant delays.  My heart is aching.  If you see me out at the store and I'm mumbling to myself it's because I'm saying Phil 4:6-7 over and over again, trusting in the truth and authority of God's word.  I am pleading with the Lord to change this.  I believe He is in control of it and will change it.  There are few times Dan and I have been praying on our faces together, literally crying, with such heavy hearts.  Please pray that God will change the officials' hearts and open their eyes to the needs of the orphans to get home.  For our boys to be taken care of in the mean time.  That our case will be seen quickly and our boys will get home this year. 

A sweet friend sent me a card in the mail today that was such a huge encouragement to me.  It reminds me "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father!'" Rom 8:15  Her sacrifice to help us bring our boys home and encouraging words are just what I needed and I am so grateful. 

We have all of our paperwork for our dossier together with the exception of our official, notarized copy of our home study.  Our home study has been approved! YAY :) As soon as the official copy arrives our dossier will be mailed from place to place being approved at various levels of government, then on to Ethiopia. We also submitted last week our paperwork to our social worker to request the government to allow us to bring an immigrant (two actually) into our home.  It will be mailed with our official home study this week.  Then we will be sent a document to get fingerprinted, then wait for official approval.  Meanwhile, our dossier will be in an Ethiopian office, in a large waiting pile.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

Out of Control

Excited, anxious, nervous, and occasionally nauseous.  All things I felt when I was prego with the girls...all things I am feeling now (except the nausea is only occasional!).  Before I blamed the crazy emotions on my hormones, now I realize it's just the anticipation of having another child.  I'm learning a lot about myself through this process.  For example, I had no idea how much I like things to be in my control.  And how all of this being out of my control is causing an ulcer to form in my stomach.  I can't control the mail, the Ethiopian courts or their speed, when our tax return will hit our checking account, or how my kiddos are being taken care of tonight.  But the great comfort I find in all of this being out of my control is that someone much better at taking care of all this than me is in fact in control!  My God is in control.  He knows who my kids are and is watching over them even as I type this.  He has provided our state side fees through our tax return and knows when it will hit our account so that I can write the next few checks to continue in the process.  He knows the day we will get to bring the kids home.  It is so comforting that I can lean on His everlasting arms and trust that what He has called us to do will come to pass in His oh so perfect timing.

We are taking baby steps! Our home study was complete this past week.  We are just waiting on our notarized copy (and tax return money to pay for it's review).  Once it's final we can also apply for grants and loans.  We sign our contract and pay our first fee at our incredible agency (Arise for Children) tomorrow.  The rest of the week will be spent finalizing our dossier paperwork.  Meanwhile, we'll submit a request to the government for permission to bring an orphan into our home.  Then we'll get a notice to get fingerprinted and wait for approval.  When we get all of that submitted, we wait.  Wait for a referral, wait for a court date, wait to bring our kids home.  (I promise I'm working on trusting in the Lord's timing...I really do know it's perfect!)