Yesterday, October 8th at 4:21 pm, we got word that Chaney Beth's court hearing went well and she passed. This basically means that she was cleared to be officially adopted by us! This also means that we get to travel to meet her and get our clearing to bring her home with us. We will not officially get to bring her home until the next trip but we are getting closer and closer with each court hearing. Thank you for your prayers and your continued support. We have seen and felt the Lord move and remind us that He is the only one that can do the impossible! We are thankful that He has brought us on this journey and we can't wait to hold our precious daughter. We cant wait to show you her! She is adorable!!!

Jackson 5 and Frazier 1 Today October 9th Chaney Beth will turn 5 months!!

Tomorrow our sweet baby girl will be 4 months old. It feels so crazy that we have known about her for a month now and we still haven't held her, touched her, heard her cry... nothing! This part of the process has, by far, been the hardest! At the beginning of this process I dreamed about the day I would finally lay eyes on my child, the one God had hand picked for our family. I thought that when I finally saw her the wait would be over. Little did I know that we would once again be waiting! I think about our precious baby girl a lot! I wonder what she is doing and how she is developing. I recently started thinking about her birth mom and dad. I am curious how they are. Do they long for her? Are they sad she is gone? Are they even alive? I long for them to know I am thankful for the sacrifice they are making. I will love this baby with all my heart. I will teach her and train her up the way she should go. I will encourage her and be there. I will provide for her the best that I can. I will give her 2 amazing brothers that will protect her. I will fix her hair the best I can :/. I will, most of all, seek the Lord and obey Him. But, what I long for most, is that they will love the Lord and serve Him too! I ask that you join us as we pray! Pray for our baby girl, her birth family, and this process.

On a lighter note, we have officially given our baby girl a name. Both of our boys have family names and we only see fit that we give our girl a family name as well. Her name is going to be:

Chaney - My middle name and my late grandmother's maiden name

Elizabeth - Jonathan's late grandmother's first name

Nitsuh - Her African name

us waiting=)

Newest News from August 20, 2012

As of today, Monday, August 20, 2012, we are still in Louisiana while our un-met daughter is in Ethiopia. We didn't get a court date pre-rainy season, which is all good, because we will trust the Lord.

Here is what we do know...assuming courts continue to proceed as planned, we will be in Ethiopia with a court date of October 22, travelling a few days prior, staying a few days, and then headed home emptyhanded. We will then wait 1-4 months to traval again and bring her home!

If you ordered one of the Africa pendants, we anticipate them arriving to us early this week and then mailed out to you later this week. The response to those was incredibly overwhelming and we are humbled and grateful for your support of this adoption!

In unrelated news, this past Saturday night, we had two families over for dinner, both of which also live in Ponchatoula, LA...both of which are also adopting from Ethiopia. It was a sweet time of encouragement and stories of the Lord's leading and faithfulness! We look forward to having playmates!

My heart longs...

So we were hoping to be able to travel this past weekend and we didn't get the court date we were hoping for! Looks like it is going to be sometime in October or November. It was a let down because my heart longs to hold our sweet baby girl who is adorable in every ways. I long to kiss her sweet cheeks and speak truth into her precious ears. I long to hold her tight and let her know that I love her dearly! I long to hear her cry and wipe her tears. I long to introduce her to all the people in our life that have prayed for her and love her as well! I long for her to meet her amazing brothers! I long to learn life with 3 kiddos and I long to do girly things with her! Most of all I long to see her, bond with her, and bring her to her forever home! I trust the Lord and His timing even when it doesn't make sense to me!

This Friday, August 10th, Frazier will turn 1 year old. 6 days later we will celebrate our one year anniversary of having our "log in date," which basically means that all of our documents have passed the US government and the Ethiopian government and we were officially on the "list" to be placed with a child. Well, the months progressed and we would catch wind here and there that we were fifth on the list, then third on the list. Then we got word that in the month of July two families received their "referrals," which means officially being placed with a child. That made us a just a wee bit anxious to be "next" on the list. Now, as of August 6th, 2012, someone else is now next on the list as we received and confirmed OUR referral on Thursday, August 2nd! We are SUPER excited about our...wait for it...DAUGHTER! She is just under three months old and is in good health (as good as can be evaluated based on the resources).

Here is where it gets a bit stressful for us. Ethiopia has what is called "rainy season." It's just that, however, the courts close during rainy season for a couple months. Our agency is bending over backwards to get us our first court date before the courts close (predictably August 17th). What this means for us is that we could be travelling to Ethiopia in the next few DAYS. That is pretty insane to us considering Frazier still nurses, Jackson will be starting Kindergarten that week, and that the first few days of the Fall Semester are pivotal for a college minister. In the event we get to travel in the next few days will mean bringing home OUR baby two months sooner than later.

We are very excited, overwhelmed, nervous, scared, humbled, etc. Ever since we have started this process, we have had only one option: "Trust the Lord." That is plan A...there is no plan B. We will trust the Lord with our new baby. We will trust the Lord with our children. We will trust the Lord with logistics. We will trust the Lord with finances. We will trust the Lord, period. There is no other option.

This season of the adoption is where ALLLL that money we raised over the last two years and 5 months starts to be spent quickly. $1200 here. $8000 there. Plane tickets here. Guest Housing expenses there. It will be depleted quickly. Fortunately, we have a significant bit of this money raised and in the bank. We WILL be doing some more fund-raising as we come down the stretch. We are selling these Africa Charm necklaces for $25 (pictured below). Let Erin know if you are interested in purchasing one: erinbclark00@gmail.com. Or, let me, Jonathan know: jonathanclark00@gmail.com. We will be glad to get one to you! We might even be re-visiting making t-shirts for selling as well.

Most importantly, be praying for us. The Lord has sustained our potential anxiety with His perfect peace. Pray for our little girl. Pray for the transition, for the travel, for the funds, for our boys, and for all the little details that make adoption possible.

Thanks so much for journeying with us!

Nervous!

A few weeks ago we heard from our agency that the current wait was 6 months. If this is the case we could be hearing something within the next month. Although this is what we have waited for for 20 months now, the reality makes us nervous. We ask that you partner with us as we pray that the Lord will provide and that we will trust Him completely!

More money yet totally worth it!!

We got an email from our agency today that gave us an incredible opportunity. We have the option to pay only $400.00 to receive a video of our child's story. What will happen is an investigator will go to Ethiopia and video the facts of our child's life history. They will interview any birth relatives that our child may have. If our child was abandoned they will interview any witnesses, the person who found our child and the police officer who prepared the report.
When we read this email we were overjoyed to think that one day we would be able to share with our child on video his/her life story from the beginning. Praise the LORD!!!

Still waiting..

All we are doing as far as adoption goes is......waiting!!

a long needed update..

Sorry that I have been so lazy at updating our blog. My excuse is that we moved and had a baby=) But to update everyone on our adoption process:
We are simply waiting. We have been told that the current wait is around 5 months which means we could expect a referral around the first of the year. We are hopeful, yet realize that things could change at any time.
We are also going to update our home study on Tuesday, Oct. 4, which will add our new place and our new son!
Please continue to pray for our family as we wait for yet another addition and please continue to pray for the funds to finish the process out!
We are thankful for you guys!!!

WOW!!

It is official!! All of our stuff is in Ethiopia and we are waiting for our paperwork to be approved in country then the placement process begins. We have been told this process could take 4-5 months yet we are unsure. We know that the country is in its rainy season which could delay things some. We also want to let you guys know a few details of this process. It seems like we are asked often about the sex and age range. We originally were adopting from Rwanda and felt peace about pursing a girl. When Rwanda closed and we switched to Ethiopia we no longer felt peace pursing a girl so we decided to purse either sex. That means we could get a boy or a girl. Also the age range that we desire is 0-24 months. This means that upon the time of referral the child could be anywhere between birth and 2 years old. We are excited about this time in our lives and are thankful for the many prayers, encouragement and financial contributions you guys have made over the past 16 months!! We ask that you continue to pray for our Ethiopian baby, or as Jackson calls him/her, Best Buddy Clark. Also pray that the Lord would provide each step of the way!

OUR FINGERPRINTS CAME BACK!!!

Friday, July 22nd, we received our USCIS approval!! We are 100% done with our paperwork!! Now for the waiting game!!=)

our big mail off!

Tuesday of this week we were able to send off our last bit of paper work to our agency. We are only waiting on our fingerprints at this point! We are super excited and super nervous that we have FINALLY made it to this point! It has taken us over a year to get all this paper work together! I am not sure that it should take this long but with the switch of countries, a move and a baby on the way things seemed to get put on delay! We ask that you join us in prayer as we wait to be placed with our child and continue to save/raise the last bit of money needed to finish this process!

fingerprints...check!

This past Friday we went to New Orleans and got our fingerprints(I-600) completed. We only have to wait for them to be returned. Our next step is to submit all of our paper work to our agency. Our agency will then review the paperwork and send it to Ethiopia. The current wait for a referral once Ethiopia gets all our paperwork is 4-5 months.
I am amazed constantly at how the Lord causes me to rest, rejoice, and be thankful for what He is doing in and through this adoption process. We have had several more set backs with some paperwork being done wrong and needing to be redone and notarized. It causes us to rest in the provision of the Lord knowing that His plan is perfect! We also get to rejoice in the Lord because we have learned His heart for the orphan and His heart for our family. We rejoice that He is preparing all of us! We rejoice that the Lord is in control and we don't have to fret!! For all these things we are thankful!! We are also thankful for you as you pray for us! We know that the Lord is the only one that can provide all that is needed for this adoption.

WHY?

So this past week we received our I-600 paperwork returned!! I was so upset! It was returned because we had not signed one part of the the paperwork. It made me upset because I felt like I was so careful to make sure everything was perfect! It is frustrating because April made one year that we have been in this process and little things like this keep happening! Not only did the I-600 get returned but our medical forms are wrong and another piece of paperwork has to be redone! It seems like these little things that seem so easy to fix yet not easy keep coming up! We are trying to remain calm and know that the Lord's timing is perfect and these small set backs are just part of the bigger picture that will lead us to our child! But we just ask that you continue to pray for us as we wait and continue to trust the Lord and his plan for our family and future children!

HOME STUDY...

Since the last post things with Ethiopia have picked back up. We are supper excited that we aren't put on yet another delay. We learned on Friday that our Home Study is complete, in the mail, and on its way to us. This means that we will be able to send in our last mailer to our agency and send in for our I-600. We are just steps away from sending all of our stuff to Ethiopia. Then the waiting game begins... Thanks to all of you who have been huge supports!! We couldn't have made it this far without you!!

SHOCKING / GOOD NEWS!!

So as of March 24, 2011 we received a message from our agency that said:

"Below is a notice released by Joint Council on the current status of Ethiopia. Overall, it seems like Ethiopian adoption is proceeding without many changes. Please let me know if you have any further questions."

It seems like they are only going to be cutting back to about 50 per day which is GREAT news!!

We also have other shocking news to share. We are also pregnant. We are currently 20 weeks and expecting a boy!

UPDATE.. Below is part of an email from our agency... Hope this helps you all understand where we are in the process... Please keep praying as we have been encouraged to wait to see what the final outcome will be. We are waiting and praying and hoping you guys will join us!
I,erin, am experiencing many different emotions daily. It is easy some day and hard others. I am finding that the hardest part is learning that the Lord's ways and timings are not my own. All I can simply do is let go and trust that He will provide and move at just the perfect time. Hard concept to grasp sometimes!!!


THE EMAIL FROM OUR AGENCY!

Citing the need to work on quality and focus on more important strategic issues, the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) will reduce to a maximum of five the number of adoption cases it processes per day, effective March 10, 2011. Under Ethiopian adoption procedures, MOWCYA approves every match between prospective adoptive parents and an Ethiopian child before that case can be forwarded for a court hearing. The U.S. Embassy is working with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to learn more about this change in procedures. We will continue to share information as it becomes available.



Given MOWCYA's current caseload, the U.S. Embassy anticipates that this change could result in an overall decline in case processing of some 90 percent. If this change is implemented as proposed, we expect, that parents who have begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia but have not yet been matched with a child could experience significant delays. It is not clear if this change in procedures would have any significant impact on cases in which MOWCYA has already approved matches.

Please pray!!!!

We are asking for urgent prayers as we are learning about adoptions in Ethiopia! We aren't 100% sure of all the details but things are yet again looking bleak. Rumor is that adoptions are going to slow down from some 50 adoptions daily to around 5 per day. This, first of all, means many children will wait for that family to love them. This detail breaks my heart! Also, this means that many families, including us, will have to, yet again, wait. I am trying to remain positive! I don't long for the 'miscarriage' feelings that come from delays. Please just pray! Pray first for the children and then the families that long to adopt! We will update as we learn details!!

friday report

Friday we met with our social worker and did the finishing touches on our home study. It was a nice feeling to actually put action towards our adoption considering over a month we have just been in waiting. We still have a few steps before all of our paper work will be officially completed to send to Ethiopia, but actually taking steps makes this process much easier.
Thanks for praying and giving during this amazing time in our lives. We long for that sweet baby God has picked out for us!

Home Study completed... well soon=)

Sorry that I am not a good blogger. I look at a lot of other blogs and realize that my blogs are pretty lame. I am not a good writer, and my creativeness only comes at others' expense. Oh well, this is me, and this is our adoption story no matter how great my blog is our how creative it may or may not be....

So January is almost over and I can't believe that we have been in Hammond for almost two months. Things are going really well here and we are settling in nicely. We are starting to make friends and learn our way around this town. It has been fun thus far. Students came back this past week and it was SO nice to see them and get to know them. They really are a cool group of students and I think we are really going to enjoy doing ministry with them.

As far as the adoption, we will finish up our home study next Friday! We are so ready and glad that it will be done. We were hoping that the move wouldn't set us back too much and we are thankful that it only set us back about a month and a half. We are constantly blown away by the Lord's timing and KNOW that this is all up to Him. We rest in Him knowing that His time frame works out perfectly even when it sometimes drives us nuts!! Once the home study is completed we will be able to do a few things. 1. Send our last mailer to our agency. 2. Apply for grants=) 3. Finish our fingerprints. 4. Send our paper work to Ethiopia and wait for a referral.(which is a wait of 2-12 months)

We ask that you guys join us as we pray for our little sweet baby. We think about him/her a lot and long for the day when we get to bring him/her home!!

update on shirts: as of right now they are put on hold.=( sorry....
update on status gender: when we were adopting from Rwanda we felt peace about a girl. With Ethiopia we don't feel that same peace so we are going to take the first available. That means we could get a girl or a boy..