I'm So Happy I Could Kiss A Giraffe!!

Kissing a giraffe in Kenya 2006

I just got word from our adoption agency this morning that we have a number! We are number (drum roll please).... 143!!! Yippie-yahoo. It's a big number compared to what I've read about from other families adopting from Rwanda but I am just so thrilled to finally get a number and "get in line"!

I also have received word that 20 families received their non-objection letters. Which is what we are in line waiting for... it's basically a letter from Rwanda saying that we can adopt an orphan from their country. Congratulations to all those families!! After a family receives their non-objection letter, the nuns at the orphanage are given the family's paperwork and begin the process of matching the them to a child!

All this can still take a while. I still don't really have a good idea of a time frame. But this is still fantastic news! As you know Rwanda temporarily has closed it's doors to accepting more applications for adoption while they transition into a new adoption process (from non Hauge to Hauge). We were not sure how this transition would effect the families who turned in their paperwork before this happened. I had heard they were hiring new staff and training them but didn't know if anyone would be working on the "old" stuff at the same time or if everything would be focused on the new path. Looks like they are starting to process dossiers again in the midst of the changes!! I think in another month we will have a good guess on a time frame. I was told they are renumbering the dossiers ahead of ours so hopefully I will get a new lower number soon! In the mean time I will praise God for the good news this Monday morning! :)

Inspiration From Others Who Dream Big

I was planning on writing about some of the great things I'm learning in my new class relating to adopting kids from hard places... but as I was reading blogs and came across this amazing lady... She is young- 20 years old I think. Her story is something like this: She decides wants to take a year between high school and college to live in Uganda. Her parents agree. She works as a local kindergarten teacher. She has taken in several children to raise and started a program to sponsor other kids so they can go to school (the schools are not free like in the U.S.) and have a feeding program. After her year, she returns home as she promised her parents and attends college. She soon realizes God wants her back home in Uganda. She breaks the news to her parents and returns. She now has over a dozen kids living with her and her program sponsors over 400 local children. I was amazed as I read her blog entries. She has loved and comforted the old and dying, assisted in birth, been given starving babies, sewn wounds together with stitches and all sorts of other things you can't imagine someone her age doing. Her heart beats for God's children- particularly the orphans. It is inspiring to read. Read her blog and check out her organization Amazima.

I was told growing up that one person couldn't make a big difference in the world. That change had to come about through governments and political leaders. I remember coming out of high school wanting to be the change I desired to see in the world. Since I have come to know Christ personally, I have begun to experience the difference one life, saying "God, please use me" can make in the world. I have witnessed many people, making incomprehensible changes in the world. They are incomprehensible because they are just ordinary people (really!) who focus their life like a laser with a deep passion for hurting people and reliance on God... and God uses them in ways you just can't dream up. God's plan for your life is bigger than your dream for your life.

I wonder what path God has for me and my dreams...

He is continuing to lead us down the path of adoption from Rwanda. As you know we made the deadline of turning in our dossier to the Rwandan Embassy in the U.S. by Aug. 31 - truly by the hands of God (read my post about it... it was a crazy day, Aug. 30, 2010, running around getting county and state authentications and more!). As of September 15th, 2010 our dossier was checked into Rwandan government branch for adoptions (Ministry of Family and Gender Promotion is the official name)! This is a date that will be on my calendar every year and celebrated in honor of God's Mighty Hands.

Dossier to Rwanda... Now What?!

Dossier to Rwanda...
Our dossier was delivered  to the Prime Minister's office on Wednesday, September 15, 2010. We are officially waiting for our non-objections letter (which is their approval for us to adopt from Rwanda)! It's just now starting to sink in that we made the August 31st deadline. I don't know if we will get a "get-in-line number" or how they plan to process things at this point in time.  Considering all that has happened, I'm happy just to begin the wait. One thing I do know is that they (Rwanda) has already started hiring and training more staff as they develop their new Hauge process. However, I don't know what that means as far as processing dossiers like ours that are waiting under the old non Hauge system. I think we will all have a better idea of time frames in another month or two once things start moving along again. One cool thing is, I learned this week is our adoption agency, Gladney, was asked to help with some of their training! What a great opportunity! If you are looking into adoption, I highly recommend Gladney. They are a Hague agency. I have had great case workers that have always called or emailed me back within a day- they will talk with me on the phone and answer all my questions and concerns with professionalism and care.

Now What?!
I signed up for a class with TCU (Texas Christian University) Institute of Child Development. It's called Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Professional Training Program. It taught by Dr. Purvis, who wrote The Connected Child, in fact, the book is part of our curriculum. I was researching upcoming conferences about parenting as it relates to international adoptions. When I told my friend that I was thinking of going to a particular one she asked me to think about going to the TBRI training. She and a few others from our church's orphan care ministry were planning on going and invited me to join them. After looking it over, I was thrilled to go! This is just what I was looking for! God is providing me with excellent parenting tools. I already have a great kiddo and I'm an excellent mom (with God's grace and guidance) and I trust I will have another great kiddo and be an excellent mom to him as well. However, I do know from others who have already walked this path that children from hard places need extra special care and a commitment to helping them overcome their challenges. I want to understand all I can now and risk being over prepared so that everything my family does to get ready for our son, he will be set up to succeed.

So for now I have homework to keep me busy! :)