A Wonderful Christmas Present

Wow...what a whirlwind the last 2 months have turned out to be. We traveled to Addis to pick up Noah on November 25th and returned home with him on December 1. We were blessed to stay at the Addiskidan Baptist Guest House - what an amazing place run by amazing Christians. Alayu and Kidist and Hannah will forever be in our hearts. Our lives have already been blessed so much by our new little guy. It has been challenging and tested us on every level, but God has proven faithful to His promise to see us through this. While there are struggles, there is joy and peace that is greater than the struggle. Here are a few pictures of Noah. If you scroll down and look at his referral picture, I think you will be amazed to see the difference a month at home can make.

We're Going to Ethiopia

At long last, the day we have waited for is almost here. Our embassy date is Tuesday November 27th, we leave next Saturday the 25th to go pick up Noah. I don't think there are adequate words to describe the absolute chaos and sheer joy that we feel right now. If I can get my head on straight later on to write about it, I will. Just wanted to share with everyone the happy news for now.

He's ours!

Awesome news today, folks! Noah Eyob Wyatt is legally ours! The courts approved the adoption! So now we wait for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to call and let us know when our travel date is. The estimates we got from our adoption agency are 2-4 weeks! And now, what you've all been waiting for: a photo of the newest member of the Wyatt family! Trust me, we'll share more when we get them!

Exciting Times

Well, this has been an eventful last couple of weeks. First and best news is, our caseworker called and gave us our 1st court date of November 1! This is AWESOME considering the courts only opened back up on October 11. This is the hearing where the judge will decide whether or not Eyob is officially our son. Please be in prayer that all will go well. This is the most important date so far.

We were also able to go to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert last night in Aiken, SC and meet him and thank him personally for the grant we received from his organization, Shaohannah's Hope. The whole night was just awesome and the work he is doing on behalf of orphans all over the world is absolutely amazing and inspiring. He signed the back of of Noah "Eyob"'s picture so that we can show him once he gets here.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Keep them coming - we are getting so much closer.

The Time In Ethiopia

Referral of Child

August 29th, 2007 was quite a day for us. We got a referral of a little boy, a little over one and a half years old. He was beautiful, and from the first click of the mouse that opened his picture, he had my heart. It is the huge brown eyes that really get you. Feels like they are piercing you right through the screen. The only problem was, that we needed more funds to accept this referral. Our caseworker told us we had 10 business days to decide what to do. We prayed about it intently, asking God that if this was the child He had for us, to show us the way to get the extra money. WITHIN ONE DAY THROUGH THREE DIFFERENT DONATIONS, the money was provided. We continue to stand in amazement at miracle after miracle of God's provision in our adoption journey thus far. Although, we should not be amazed. God is always faithful, He knows what we need. Now, we wait for the courts to open back up in Ethiopia, hopefully in 1 1/2 more weeks they will be open. We are praying for a really great Christmas present. Can't wain until everything is "official", and we can show him off on this blog page. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. We love you all and you mean so much to us.

Shaohannah's Hope adds to our hope!

We got notice that we have received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope that we have recieved a grant in the amount of $3000! That's a big step closer to being able to send our dossier! We also have a commitment from a church member to donate a substantial amount in August, which we are profoundly grateful for! This leaves us between $3000 and $3500 away from completing the financial obligations of the adoption, which will enable us to send our dossier and begin receiving referrals. Please pray with us that this goal is reached soon, as the Ethiopian courts will be closing soon.

And We Wait

I think this has been the hardest part of the whole process so far. We have 99% of our dossier done, homestudy complete, have received my passport, even got our I171H form which normally takes months to receive. Now, we are just scratching our heads, waiting, and wondering how we are gonna pay the rest of the money needed to bring our little boy home. God is really, really teaching us what it means to rest in Him. We have applied for 3 grants, and we prayerfully await the response from these organizations. We probably will not know anything until August, as the board members for the grants only meet once a quarter. But hey, who knows? Everything else has happened quicker than anticipated, so maybe we will hear something good soon. We were asked to send additional information for Shaohannah's Hope, which I think is a very positive sign. Shaohannah's Hope is Steven Curtis Chapman's organization which gives adoption grants every month to many families. Steven Curtis Chapman has adopted several children and has a heart for adoption. We are praying that God will show us wisdom as we ponder the best way to tackle this obstacle.

So, for now, we wait and expect big things soon!!

Things Are Moving Along

Just to give everyone an update - We are working on our dossier items, and are close to having all the forms we need. We received our offically done and approved homestudy about a week and a half ago, and we have since then been working furiously on applying for grants. We received our appointment at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service to be fingerprinted. I am still trying to figure out why we have to do this, but all I know is it has to be done if we want to bring our baby home. it is absolutely amazing to me how much information we have had to soak in our little brains - it seems so easy at first. haha. That will take place on Tuesday, May 1st. We sent off some of our dossier forms to be "authenticated" on Monday. We were told this takes at least 6 weeks, well, guess what, we got them back on Wednesday of this week. 2 days. Wow. So, it seems that all of a sudden things are moving along more quickly than before, which is very exciting and also nerve wracking at the same time. God has provided for us wondrously thus far...your prayers mean more to us than you can know. It is so wonderful to know we have people who are behind us on all levels, whether it is through prayer, encouragement, or financial support or all three. Caylah has drawn a picture of her and her little brother for us to take over when we go get him. Little things like this make it seem closer every day. Well, that's all for now folks.

God Is So Good

Today we received word that another donation has come into CWA for our adoption account. I continue to stand in awe of God and the way He works to accomplish His plans for our lives. I also sent over our last piece of paperwork to complete our homestudy yesterday. Now, we are just waiting for the caseworker to write the draft and send it to us for approval. So, in the meantime we have begun working on our dossier, which at first seems daunting, but then I realized (BIG SMILE) that I already had a LOT of things that are required due to gathering it for the homestudy. Boy, do I love to check things off the "lists" they give you. I do not think it is going to take a very long time to complete the dossier, however you have to be "paid in full" with the agency before they will send off your dossier. So, at this point my biggest prayers are that the financial end of things will come together. I know they will because God is in control and I know He will show us exactly what we need to do. There is a song the local Christian radio station has been playing by a group called Down Here, called "Little is Much". I love the line that says "Little is much when God's in it, and no one can fathom the plans He holds." It has really become MY SONG the last few weeks.
On another note, to end this random blog...last night I was on the CWA weboard, and I visited a fellow adoptive parent's blog page. She had the video posted from where they actually went and met their children for the first time. The place she went is the exact care center our child will be at. It absolutely gave me cold chills to watch it, because it gave me just a brief glimpse of what it might be like one day when I am actually there. If anything, it encouraged me to carry on. When you see someone else's end result and joy, it gives you strength too.
Robin

Special Package

Today when I arrived home there was a UPS package (thanks Jamie Franklin) under my front doormat. It was from CWA - it had several items that the CWA team got for it's adoptive Ethiopian families while they were in Ethiopia in January. All the items were handmade - a beautiful basket, necklace (which took Caylah about 2 seconds to put on), an embroidered tapestry, and a drawing of an Ethiopian mother and child. This was such a wonderful surprise, because it made me think that all of these things were handmade by people who were just like my future son. It is somehow like having a part of him already here with us, even though we have no idea who our son is at this point. Talk about a wide range of emotions!

Also, the homestudy visit went very well. We only have a couple more documents to gather before it is complete, and then the next fun part of completing the "dossier" and waiting for immigrations approval....YIPEE.

My heart grows more and more excited everyday, and my faith is tested more and more every day...Thank you Jesus!

Yet more homestudy news!

We have more news on the homestudy! It will be Friday, March 2nd at 6pm. We appreciate your prayers! We're excited, as this is a major hurdle. We also got our case manager assigned to us. We're excited about that, too, as she is from Ethiopia herself and will be able to answer a lot of our questions about the culture. So please keep us in your prayers!

Homestudy News

We received a call today saying that we can have our homestudy done in the first part of February!!! YAAY!! It is little things like this that make you feel like you are actually getting somewhere in the process. Thanks for the prayers and support!! Keep them coming :-)

A Stark Reality

Why are we adopting from Ethiopia?

James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." This verse was the beginning of our journey towards adopting a child. When we first felt the call to adopt, it was something we had been praying about individually. When we realized that the Lord had placed the adoption of a child on both of our hearts, we knew that we had to follow Him in this special calling that He had placed on our lives. When we first started talking about adoption, we were completely open as to where we should adopt from. After much prayer, and much research on the numerous adoption agencies available, we knew that we were called to adopt internationally. We made the decision to go with Christian World Adoption. After talking to them, we knew that we were supposed to go to Ethiopia. The verse listed above calls us to care for the fatherless. We wanted to help a child that had little hope of finding a real home. Statistics showed us that an orphaned boy from Ethiopia had a slim chance of finding a home.

Thus, our decision was made, and our journey began. If the adoption process teaches you anything, it is patience - patience in understanding the process, in filling out mountains of forms, in obtaining and waiting for the necessary finances to materialize. And it also teaches you about God's provision and timing, specifically that we must wait for His plans to come together, and trust that His timing and will is what is best for us. This is much easier said than done. Patience is not our strong suit (though Chris has more than Robin), but it is becoming a little easier as we begin to realize that adoptions just take time. We know we will bring home the child God has for us in His timing, and not ours.

At this point, we are just about to have our homestudy done. This is an important step in the adoption process. After we have our homestudy done and it is approved, then we can work on our "dossier". This is a word we hear over and over, and it is basically your life history handed over to the Ethiopian government. The orphanages that we are working through in Ethiopia require that the child go to a Christian home, and they just want to make sure the child is going to a loving home. After we complete the dossier, it is submitted to Ethiopia. Once they accept it and approve us (usually within 3 months of receiving it), then we will get a referral. WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We cannot imagine what our emotions will be on that great day. Imagine how it would be to see the face of someone you have prayed for and has been in your heart for so long. AWESOME!!!

We know that no adoption is without its challenges and we have been working hard to educate ourselves on issues that can occur with international adoption, particularly when the child is of a different race. We have been reading the book Adoption Parenting, and been learning about ways to attach with your child, feeding issues, sleep issues, ways to discipline children who have not necessarily come from a loving environment. We want to honor the culture that our child comes from, as that is extremely important for the adopted child. It is also important to realize that we can honor his heritage while building new family traditions.

Well, hopefully this long first post has brought everyone up to speed on where we are at, and where we hope to go. Everyone has been so supportive and loving, and we thank you for that from the bottom of our hearts. It means more to us than you could know. We will keep the blog updated with all the new and exciting developments as they occur, and we are sure there will be many!