Game in Overtime

In one week we will unofficially hold the record for the longest referral wait time with our agency. Needless to say, this is not the record we were looking to break! I also had a conversation with our case worker last week that left me feeling like our referral isn’t right around the corner either.


Sigh.


All I can say are things I have said before:


1. This will be worth the wait.

2. All this waiting will be forgotten, or at least become a distant memory, some day.

3. Most importantly, I believe that when you become a parent, it ceases to be about you and it becomes about them. In my heart I have been mother to these children for months and whatever I am feeling pales in comparison to the profound loss that is occurring in their young lives.


I can also say that I have complete faith in Gladney. I know that they are working ethically and in our best interest – a tough balancing act that some agencies don’t manage very well. They always told us that being matched with a young sibling pair could take time, and they were right. We think it will be worth the wait. We think this will all make sense some day. We think that what we are feeling pales in comparison...ok, ok, you get the idea.


All this waiting has also allowed me to meet some of the most incredible people. I don't know what it is about this adoption community, but you folks are amazing. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support! And with that said, I am off to meet up with this person. I know, some of you are jealous. And, yes, she is as cool in person as she sounds on her blog!!

An Opportunity to Get Involved

If you have been rooting for us on the sidelines wondering how you might get more involved, this post is for you!

Our agency, Gladney, has been able to access free shipping of several crates to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They have several infant incubators that were donated by a Texas Children’s Hospital that will be going in some of the crates, but they would like to fill the remaining crates with diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer, and baby carriers - all of which will be going to the Foster Homes in Ethiopia where our children, and many other children, are waiting to be adopted.

They have made it super easy to participate in this donation effort by making arrangements with diapers.com, who will provide $10 off (on first time orders that include diapers) and fast free shipping if your order is over $49.

If you would like to participate, here's how:

• Go to diapers.com  in time for delivery by November 15th.

• Order any of the following products that the children and in-country caregivers need:
  
  Babyganics Germinator Hand Sanitizer - 250 ml
  
  Huggies Snug and Dry Diapers - Extra Large Case - (sizes needed size 1 through size 3)
  
  Huggies Natural Care Fragrance Free Baby Wipes - 360 Count Refill
  
  Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier Original - City Black
  

• Enter the Referral Code “Gladney” on the shopping cart screen when you check out to get a $10 discount (This code did not work for me for some reason. If you have the same problem you can use "HEID6267" to get the $10 off. Your order must include diapers for it to work).

• Ship your donation directly to Gladney at:

Scott Brown
Gladney Center for Adoption

6300 John Ryan Drive

Fort Worth, Texas 76132

I also want to add, especially for anyone who will be traveling to Ethiopia to bring their children home, consider asking your pediatrician if they would be interested in making donations of formula and medications (anything that would be found in a typical first aid kit is needed). We spoke with our pediatrician about this and he is excited to help.

There will be no way for me to know who was kind enough to participate so leave me a comment or send me an email so I can thank you for your generosity!

All You Need is Love (and patience!)

We heart Gladney!

Small World / Seven Months

Last weekend I attended a cookout at our next door neighbors’ house. I got into a conversation with another neighborhood couple about our local school system (a topic I have recently become very interested in for obvious reasons - they had good things to report). I mentioned our adoption plans and it turns out that his cousin adopted from Ethiopia last year, through Gladney, and this cousin (who is a film maker) recently returned to Ethiopia and created a video of the Gladney Care Center! As soon as he told me that I knew exactly who he was. Gladney sent us links to his video a couple months ago and I meant to put them on the blog but never got around to it. Here they are below. If you watch closely you will see this little cutie, who is the son of some local friends.

Those Left Behind - Video #1

Those Left Behind - Video #2

What an incredibly small world!

Oh, and Saturday marks seven months on the wait list! Average wait time is still reported to be 8 months...stay tuned!

Just Checking In...

OK, I realize this is my fourth blog entry in a week and you might be getting tired of hearing from me! Some probably think that all this blogging is because I'm getting antsy...well...ok, maybe I’m a little antsy...but mostly it’s because I suddenly have time on my hands (my busy season at work is finally winding down) and our friends' departure to Ethiopia, Mother's Day and our 5 month mark all seemed like blog-worthy milestones. This is just my regular Friday update and I was going to skip it but, as you can see, I feel the need to squeeze in one more...

I received a nice email from Ryan Brown at our agency yesterday. In spite of the fact that the subject line of his email read,“Just checking in…”, it made my heart jump when I discovered it in my inbox! My brain instantly went into hyper-drive to see if I could extract some hidden meaning, haha, but he really was just checking in to see if we had any questions about the process or our upcoming travel to Ethiopia. Alas, the only hidden meaning I could come up with was the fact that he wouldn’t be “just checking in” if someone was about to call us with our referral...so I guess I can let go of that fantasy for a little while longer!

The other thing I gleaned from his email is that Gladney rocks! I really agonized over which agency to go with and I didn’t land upon Gladney until the end of my search. Again and again they have proven to be the right choice. Thanks for just checking in, Ryan! You can read about Ryan and his beautiful family here (scroll to the bottom of their blog for the great story of how they came to adopt their first son).

It was a good week for referrals – two toddlers and one healthy, month and a half old baby girl! Congrats to this family and this family and this family! Also wishing good luck to the many families going to court next week!

I also want to mention this family, who were at the tippity top of the unofficial list all through the slow month of April. As a family gets to the top of the unofficial list many of us visit (stalk) their blogs on a regular basis, anticipating their happy news. On monday, instead of the news we expected, we learned that Hanna and Maarten have made the decision to put their adoption on hold. I do not know Hanna and Maarten, and I only recently started stalking their blog, but I cannot stop thinking about them. I just want to say that they are in our hearts and prayers.

With all the referrals this week, and with Hanna and Maarten's decision to bow out for a while, we bitter-sweetly move into position number 12 on the unofficial list. There are two families ahead of us who would accept a referral of an infant OR a sibling pair, but no one waiting ahead of us (that we know of) waiting exclusively for siblings. Hope blooms eternal!

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." ~ Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Journal, July 25, 1839