Poetry

In honor of my friend Jamey's blog post on twisted poetry... Jamey's blog
I present to you...
My haiku.

So much still to do
Mostly out of my control
Hippopotamus.

Ok, ok... I know... ENCORE! ENCORE!

Writing a big check
Sending it to Oregon
Googling FedEx

On a ROLL, baby!

Third cup of coffee
Wish it was cappucinno
Colombian blend

Ok, that was a little weak... (LOL!)

Printing small pictures
Two photos of each of us
For the dossier.

Maybe I should just post ALL my adoption updates in Haiku from now on!

All three blog readers
Roll their eyes in unison
They don't like haiku.

Paperwork Schmaperwork!

I am almost done, baby!!! WOOHOO!
By tonight I will have mailed my I600a WITH the homestudy AND mailed my dossier to Holt!
WOOHOO!
Now what??

Well...
My happy little dossier will travel all the way to Eugene, Oregon where it will be looked over by the ET staff peeps, they will add some papers then it will go to Washington, DC (who will have hopefully thawed out by then) and get stamped by our government and then sent to the Ethiopian Embassy in DC for more stuff... then on to Ethiopia!
When it gets there (not sure if it gets translated at the embassy or in ET), it will be translated and then they will start working on getting us a court date.
From what we are being told, we have to expect two court dates, possibly three.
You know, sometimes the lights are out in the courthouse....

After we pass court, we wait for a travel date! Our agency has two visa dates per month, therefore two travel groups per month. We are hoping that will be June or July (I am secretly hoping for June.. for our 15th anniversary... but let's not hold our breath!).

So... what do we have to do now?
USCIS will contact us for a fingerprinting appointment, but other than that... we do fundraising and we WAIT.

Did I mention fundraising?? Oh yes...
If you have any really awesome fundraiser ideas, please feel free to share them with me!
Right now we are focusing locally - trying to schedule cooking classes and thinking about auctioning my hubby's chef services for dinner parties... but wondering if I need to think outside of that box a little?

Goodbye, happy little dossier! Make your momma proud! ;)

Giveaway!

Fellow Holt Ethiopia Mommy, Jen is doing a cool giveaway for some birth/adoption announcements over at her blog!
She is SO sweet and my go-to blog for updates on my other Holt families since she has this awesome way of organizing the family blogs by where they are in their process! (Ingenious...)
Go there, comment, win fun stuff!
www.ourwaytoyou.blogspot.com

And answered prayers!

Not 5 minutes after posting my words below about finances,

We received word from Holt that we qualified for a grant!

Woohoo!

This makes things QUITE a bit easier on us!

Thank you, SNAF people!

Thank you, Jesus - for providing in unusual, unexpected ways!

Fear, excuses and finding peace

Stole this from Amy's blog . 

I love this... I hear these "excuses" a lot, I used some of these excuses myself. 

 

I've had my share of excuses in the past....

Too busy

Not enough money

Not enough time

Too young

Too old

Can't afford it

Already have 4 children

Not sure if it's God's will

Not sure

Can't afford it

What will others say?

What will others think?

People will think we are crazy

What if they are right?

Can't afford it.

What if it's hard on our other kids?

It's not the right time

Not sure if I would be good at it.

House is too small.

Can't afford it.

Not sure if I want to start all over again.

What would we drive?

What if it's to much work?

What if it's too hard?

Can't afford it.

Yet for every excuse God has the answer-

Him.

It's all about Him- period.

He must increase,

but I must decrease.

John 3:30

We limit God with our excuses.

We limit God with our fears.

We limit God by putting Him inside a box-

A box we have designed on our own.

But by doing this we are actually robbing ourselves-

robbing ourselves of the blessings.

Robbing ourselves of true joy

Robbing ourselves of truly living.

Because you see when we take 'us' out of the picture

Our worries,

Our fears,

Our excuses,

And we put God in the center of our lives

The possibilities are endless.

He has the way...

He IS the way...

And all you have to do is

stop making excuses and take that first step.

Stop listening to the world.

Stop being afraid of the what ifs-

And listen to the one who knows.

The one who has the answers.

The one who really matters.

The truth is

we don't have to be perfect

because He is.

We don't have to have all of the answers

because He already does.

We don't have to know how

because He will show us.

Each day you wait

is a day that they wait too...

The cost of your excuse is a lot higher than the cost of an adoption

because look at what it's costing them.

Stop making excuses.

They are waiting

And so is He...

To show you the way.

 

I would add that trusting is a LOT easier to say than it is to do.  Every day I look at the cute pictures on my fridge and think... "Ok, Lord, HOW is it that we will afford this?" 

I get attacked by numbers in my head... and I don't DO numbers well to begin with! But SOMEHOW there is still peace in there... mixed together with all those numbers scrolling around like one of those national debt clocks... there is peace. The ONLY thing I know is that I pray for peace, I receive peace. I have prayed for the funds, and so far... we have had what we need when we need it (and not BEFORE we need it... because Jesus must think I do EVERYTHING at the last possible minute and therefore I speak that language...).

If you feel that tug in your heart to adopt...DO something. Love IS a verb after all... DO love.