Photo Album for Baby.....I Mean Babies! :)

Yes, Hubby has had to correct me multiple times. For example, I often say: "......Blah, blah, blah our child." Hubby says: "Don't you mean our children?!?" Oh, yes, that's right....TWINS! Still reeling from the very wonderful double blessing from God!

We received a travel packet from our agency. It consists of a 56 page document to read in preparation for travel, applications to apply for our VISA, and a host of other paperwork that needs to be filled out (I won't bore you with the details). Hubby and I have already gotten our vaccinations so we are ready to travel whenever our agency calls us!

One thing that we are preparing to take our twins is a photo book. Almost every agency requires this (and even if it wasn't required, we would do this). This will be a photo album containing pictures of people and places that will be important to them. Here is a picture of a cute photo album I found and ordered (after hubby reminded me to order 2! :) When we are in Ethiopia, we will take pictures with our babies and be able to add to the photo album so the babies can see pictures with Mommy and Daddy too. That way, even though we will have to leave them, they will know they are ours and we will be coming back for them. The best thing about this photo album is that we can record our voices so the babies can begin getting used to us. So excited to begin preparations for our babies!

24

Side note: I wrote this post Oct. 31, 2011 in anticipation of us receiving our referral today! GOD IS SO AWESOME! I wrote this post just a few weeks after our babies were born. We didn't know our babies had been born, but God knew! I also had no idea we would receive a referral in February. I hoped and believed and God has honored our faithfulness. I love you my baby boys! Always put your trust and faith in God! Love Mommy (and Daddy :)

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Today (Feb. 18, 2012) marks 24 months of waiting from the day our dossier was complete. That doesn’t count the 4 months it took us from the day we started researching adoption, picked an agency and sent in our application papers to the day our first dossier was complete. It also doesn’t count the numerous years of my childhood when I dreamed of the day I would adopt (since I was 13 years old).

So, looking at the bigger picture, it feels like it has been decades of waiting.

And today, (just like when mothers forget the pain of labor) all the angst of waiting fell away! FOUR DAYS AGO WE RECEIVED OUR REFERRAL (yes, on Valentine's Day, God chose to give us a great gift of love!!) Our dreams are coming true. We have been referred the most beautiful 4 month old baby boys! Yes, we have twins! Words can not express the joy we are feeling right now! Thank you GOD!

Contentment

Dossier is almost done. Tomorrow our dossier will be couriered to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC to be authenticated. All documents that have to be used in Ethiopia have to be authenticated by the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C.

We have had a few conversations with our agency lately about what the situation is like in Ethiopia since the Southern/Sidama region has closed to adoption. The agency keeps encouraging us to wait just a little longer and tells us that they feel we are so close. Hubby and I continue to pray and we feel at peace waiting for our Ethiopian child.

Our agency is no longer giving estimated wait times because they have been so wrong in the past. When we first started our wait 2 years ago, they estimated that our wait would be 1 year, 1.5 years at the most. I also think they have finally accepted that only God knows when our child will come to us.

Here is a good article I found that explains about the situation regarding adoptions in Ethiopia. Of course it is not the whole story, but I think it gives a good overview of some of the challenges facing prospective international adoptive parents today.

The verse that is currently helping me through this time:

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment - I Timothy 6:6