The Beginning..

In May of 09 my husband and I decided to attend an America world seminar, although it didn't start then, we had been praying about how to expand our family for years. I found America World when my youngest was about 1. I have held onto the application and DVD for years. Only in Gods time..

We noticed there was a local seminar and decided to attend. Walking to the car after the seminar, we knew immediately this is what we wanted to do! The next step would be deciding which country. There are so many orphans all around the world..how would we choose?? When we first discussed adoption I was leaning towards China but after the seminar we realized there were so many options. Adoption tends to be a lengthy process, and being the impatient person that I am, that ruled out China, the wait tends to be 3-5 years. Other determining factors would be travel time. I have 3 kids at home that I would not want to leave for very long times, and of course the cost. It is an unfortunate reality.

This is where the Lord comes in... we felt we were being led towards Ethiopia for a few different reasons. First the wait time was less than other countries and the cost, but what we were really praying over was..how many??

We had never discussed adopting more than one but the Lord was leading us in that direction.
What a blessing it would be to not only help one child but two! What if we could adopt siblings? They would be able to stay together and our family would be doubly blessed!

Now to talk to our kids! After all they would be sharing their hearts and their home and quite possibly their rooms! Some people might of made the decision without consulting their kids first but we love and support each other and value each others opinions. Our kids have been our world for the last 11 years we want them to be comfortable with our decision and reassure them that we will love them no less! Our oldest was quite excited, she has a very big heart, Marianna offered up her new trundle bed! Our youngest just wanted to know when "the kids were coming?" So over all it went well!

On Friday, May 29th we mailed our application. Knowing how I am my husband 2 day mailed it so I could track its arrival at America World! It would take up to 10 days to find out whether or not we were accepted...this is where I struggle..Patience!!

I knew when they received it so I was waiting for some sort of confirmation from them..It came in form of an email..They were reviewing it!!

After days and nights of praying and waiting I received the phone call on June 17th! They said YES! Now onto the next step signing our agreement and sending our first payment! Now we have officially begun! Next step will be the home study and lots of paperwork but in the end we hope to have Our Ethiopian Blessings...