Project SHE (supplies helping Ethiopia)

My husband and I could not let this holiday season go by without acknowledging the less fortunate and who better for us to help than the children of Ethiopia. These children have been orphaned due to illness and poverty. Most of these children do not even have a toothbrush to call thier own. Help these children obtain some of life's basic needs. These children do not ask for much,so please try and remember them the next time you are at the mall or the next time you are grocery shopping. We have even created a chip-in box that will allow you to donate straight to this website if you would rather. All donations made to the chip-in box will be used to help buy supplies to take to the children of Ethiopia. Thank you for remembering these wonderful children this holiday season. Happy Holidays!

Here is a list of items most needed:

Toothbrushes

Band aids

Ace bandages

Baby bottles

Diapers (ages 0-2 years)

Baby wipes

Formula (Enfamil-milk gas free infant formula powder for babies 0-2)

(if you would like to drop off donations please email us at megan.shaughnessy@smail.astate.edu for the drop off location)

...we wait... [Daddy Edition]

"It is for this joy, this hope, this peace that we wait."

I am not usually such an evangelistic person; I often quite honestly despise evangelism (well, despise is not quite accurate; it is probably more accurate to say that I question the authenticity of evangelism). During the season of advent, however, I am too often moved by the promise of the Christ child. This season my emotions-- usually subdued and hidden beneath a self-imposed stoicism-- are running rampant thanks to our own sense and season of advent. To this end, the quote above appeared in this Sunday's responsive reading. This single line brought tears to my eyes as I cannot wait to see our little girl-- our joy, our hope, and our peace. The full responsive reading is here:

"Comfort my people, says the Lord. Speak unto them words of deliverance./ God will break the chains of the bound./ Comfort my people, says the Lord. Speak unto them words of peace./ God will cast out the fears of the troubled./ Comfort my people, says the Lord. Speak unto them words of assurance./ God will raise the eyes of the hopeless./ Lord, give us faith that the Prince of Peace shall be revealed./ It is for this joy, this hope, this peace that we wait./ Advent is a time of waiting./ Advent is also Christ... in me."

This is my prayer today as I try with every fiber of my being to understand the waiting period knowing that so many faces of the bound, the troubled, and the hopeless long to be turned into faces of joy, hope, and peace. If we are so willing and ready to offer comfort, deliverance, peace, and assurance, why then must the process be one of waiting? And no sooner do I ask these questions is it that God provides the answer: "Lord, give us faith that the Prince of Peace shall be revealed... It is for this joy, this hope, this peace that we wait." I am-- we are-- ready for our joy, hope, and peace named A.J. Maybe this season of advent will be our own season of realized advent.

So Ready [Daddy Edition]

I'm not one to usually quote the bible, but this morning's sermon at our church spoke directly to me and to our time in this process. I cannot help but share this passage with all of you.

"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, promptin us to call out, 'Abba, Father.' Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir" (Galatians 4: 4-7).

The adoption talk spoke directly to me. I cannot wait to adopt our little AJ and make her our heir. I am so ready and the wait is far too long.

After reading the passage, I read the commentary which is in my bible. It said this:

'When the right time came...' We may sometimes wonder if God will ever respond to our prayers. But we must never doubt him or give up hope. At the right time he will respond. Are you waiting for God's timing? Trust his judgment and trust that he has your best interests in mind... Under Roman law, an adopted child was guaranteed all legal rights to his father's property, even if he was formerly a slave. He was not a second-class son; he was equal to all other sons, biological or adopted, in his father's family. As adopted children of God, we share with Jesus all rights to God's resources. As God's heirs, we can claim what he has provided for us-- our full identity as his children.

That was just too perfect... I am ready to offer all that Megan and I have and will have to our adopted heir. I will, however, keep in mind that we are working on God's time. I am nevertheless ready for his time to come now and for his plan for AJ to be a reality. I am ready. Megan is ready. Our home is ready. We are ready for our referral and are ready to see our beautiful heir and to bring her into our home and into our hearts.

A chill in the air

Just now I was driving home and got to the stop sign right before our house when I noticed this fog around our neighborhood( did i spell that right?? lol). As I drove through it to our driveway I got a chill all over! I couldn't help but think it was a sign from our little girl half way around the world. I know it's crazy, but that was my first thought. As Christmas nears I miss her more and more. It is possible to miss someone you've never met? I think so....come home baby A.J. we miss ya here!

Translated and Registered!!!

Our dossier is officially translated and registered! whoop whoop!!!

Good news...not THE news, but still good!

Michael is officially a dr!!!! ( not an m.d. but an ED.D.) Way to go babe!!! Love u!

Ticking Time and Passing Days (Daddy Edition)

I hate waiting. I hate waiting for anything and everything. Megan has asked me over and over again to add my feelings to this blog. Never have these feelings been greater than during this time of waiting.

Today I logged into our Yahoo!Groups account for Adoption Avenues families. While I feel so much for and about this adoption process, putting these feelings into words is not always the easiest for me. That was until today. When perusing the Yahoo!Groups page, I came across a database of all of the families who are members of the Yahoo!Group. This database was incredible! It showed where the families were, when their dossier made it to DC, when the dossier made it to Ethiopia, etc. It was so refreshing to have some hard data to compare our journey against. To date, all that we have had is my good friend Jenna to bounce questions off of and to compare against. I immediately printed this database so we now have data to compare against. Megan will find it so funny to know that I found my emotions through the comparison data (guess that dissertation work has infected my brain so deeply that I only seem to respond to factual data at this point).

Let me say this: I absolutely cannot wait to see our daughter. I absolutely cannot wait for the referral email. I absolutely cannot wait to make our trips to that foreign country and to meet all those wonderful people who are either currently loving or will be loving the child who will come to be our daughter.

Let me also say this: I worry about numerous things because of this journey (money, time, what she will ask us when she starts talking, how to discipline her when she is teenager, etc.). None of these things detract me from the desire to get her home. I'm so glad that Megan and I WILL be parents.

796323526270 ....my new favorite numbers!

Ok,so I found out today that Ethiopia has our Dossier!!! I was not going to bug Radu, but my curiosity got the best of me and boy am I glad it did! I recieved a reply back that had the Fedex tracking number and said that Ethiopia had recieved our Dossier yesterday!! We are over the moon and finally told the rest of our family! It's so strange to think this could actually be happening! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and remember our chipin box!!! Thanks everyone for the kind messages!!!

WA Dc has our Dossier!!

So we know for sure that WA DC recieved our Dossier on Oct. 11th, however we do not know if they still have it or if it's being sent to Ethiopia. I am being realistic and assuming that WA DC still has it, but I am hoping it has been sent to Ethiopia. My Nanny, yes I call her Nanny not grandmother, has been in and out of the hospital now for a for a week or so and she is due to come stay with my parents. She is in her 80's, however she has never acted her age. I was going to wait to tell her until we were "officially" approved, but now that she is sick and what may happen to her is unknown I feel compelled to tell her. I hope and pray that she will be fine, however I want her to know what is going on. Something as important as this should be shared not kept a secret. I still feel strange telling people when nothing is 100% yet;I still feel like I might jinx it by saying it out loud, but I guess I need to just face my fears...hmmmm....ok here it goes!

Please remember our chipin box!! Little A.J. is not home yet and needs all the help she can get to become a part of the Miles family! Thanks everyone!

Only 13 days....sigh

Well it's only been 13 days since we've sent our dossier off and already I am anxious and tird of waiting. I know 13 days is nothing, but when you've been waiting your whole life for this little girl 13 days can seem like years. I guess now that I do not have paperwork to fill my time I need to start on the nursery. It's a scary thing for me to do, because the fear of the unknown still lingers and I am afraid to start something that may never come to be. I know this is what we were always meant to do, but having no control over it scares me to death. I am working on letting go and trusting that this will happen, but for now I am taking it one day at a time...and eventhough it's been 13 days past Dossier it hasn't gotten any better...haha.

Please remember our chipin box!! Little A.J. is not home yet and needs all the help she can get to become a part of the Miles family! Thanks everyone!

Our ChipIn donation box

Please help us bring home our little girl. We are in the final stages as we wait to see what our little A. J. looks like . I know it is tough in this economy to spend money at all, but we are asking for whatever you can give to help this little girl have a chance at a great life. Your donations will be taken with great appreciation and we will keep everyone posted as to how the process of A.J.'s adoption is going. Thanks so much! Keep A.J. in your thoughts and prayers please as well as those other little ones who are in Ethiopia waiting on thier forever families.

Dossier off!

Ok our agency recieved our Dossier on friday Oct. 1, 2010!!!

I hope

I hope one day my daughter will look at this and know how much we wanted her, and how much we longed for her. I hope one day that she will read these words and know how many days I thought of nothing but her. I hope one day she will understand why we chose adoption,and that eventhough her biological parents could not care for her we were more than ready to help them in anyway we could. We are more than ready to see her playing and to run her bath water. We are more than ready to help her pick out outfits for her first day of school.We are more than ready to hear her say her first words. We are more than ready to have her read this and to know that she is loved halfway around the world and back again.

seriously???

Ok so we are at the last step of the dossier and we trying to figure out how to get this last form notarized, our schedule's never match up, and we were talking to his mother about it all. and....she says " you know your father is a notary??" OMG...through this whole thing we were running all over the place to get things notarized and all the while he was a notary!!! Ugh lol...we feel like idiots! lol

We have been approved!!!!!!!!

Our i600a came back approved!!!!!! We can get this form state certified and then off to Adoption Avenues!!! I cannot believe this has all happened so quickly! I'm only talking about the Uscis portion of the process of course, lol. We are so excited to be this much closer to our baby girl!!!

Both fingerprints done!

Okay so my fingerprints are now done and we are just waiting and hoping to be approved from USCIS! Our final last step in the paper trail. I can't believe we're already at this point.

Post Fingerprinting (Daddy Edition)

I failed to update the blog after having my fingerprints taken-- I was not arrested at the Immigration office or anything averse such as that, I simply have been too busy at work.

Here's how it went down... I walked into the office early enough because I was worried they would cancel my appointment and then we would be set back a good deal. I was overly polite to the security guard because I was concerned that he would be the only other American that I would see. This was partially correct. My politeness was met with rapid-fire instructions as to what I would be expected to do once entering the building. It was good that I went first, and that Megan went after, because I'm not sure that she would be able to follow these rapid instructions-- in truth, I barely followed them myself but survived somehow. Once I got into the office I was in a large waiting room, and yes, I was the only American waiting. I filled out the paperwork as directed by the guard and sat and waited. While waiting I noticed a second waiting room full of people (my waiting room was not full but had only three families waiting). I wasn't sure if these were quarantined or were simply waiting and I also wasn't sure if I was now waiting in line behind these other people! I wasn't... I was quickly called and my electronic fingerprints were taken and that was that.

Now the waiting... Megan has her fingerprints taken this Friday and then we'll wait for our results in the mail so we can attach them to our completed dossier and send it off. We are hoping for a quick turnaround.

wanting her home

I just had to write out my frustrations ...I want my baby girl home already! I don't know what she looks like or even how old she is but I want my beautiful girl home safe and sound. I know this road of waiting is just beginning, but I can't wait until the day I get to kiss her pretty little cheeks. I love her already.

Pre-Finger Printing (Daddy Edition)

Daddy here...

I am moments from leaving the office to drive out to the USCIS office for my fingerprinting. Thought I would log my thoughts of excitement but uncertainty of (1) how long it will take me to get to the USCIS office and back as I have a meeting scheduled at the same time to which I will arrive late, and (2) what actually happens at the USCIS office and afterward. I will add a post after returning this afternoon.

Daddy out...

Michael's fingerprints!

So it is a wintery looking night, although it is almost 80 degrees, and I now more than ever want to have our baby girl home in my arms. I want to smell her baby smell and look into her beautiful brown eyes. I cannot wait to have her here and know that she is ours forever. After tomorrow we will be nearing the end of the paper trail..I know I have said this before, but I swear it's true!! I am ready to paint the nursery and to have a baby shower... I am ready to be a Mother. I am ready to have my husband be a Father. We are ready for you beautiful girl!

I-797C came in!!!!!!!

Well our I-797c came in just the other day! I am so glad that it came in so quickly hopefully this means that our fingerprint appointment will come just as quickly. I don't want to jinx that chance, but ya never know! We spent the weekend with little Amel again, this time we had her for 4 days! Michael and I both had a blast with her. She's 20 months old and so fun. I am hoping we'll get to keep her again this weekend...but alas we have to go the week without her and wait until Friday to find out for sure! Keep your fingers crossed for both reasons please!!

Paperwork back: Round one

So we got our first i600a form sent back to us; the one that I had forgotten to send the check with. Whew i can breath easy knowing that one wasn't just outright rejected. I am surprised however how quickly it got back to us. I hope the one we sent with the right information and the check will be approved and just as quickly as this one was rejected. So cross your fingers and say a little prayer please!!

i600-a ..one more time

Ok, so after I had a heart attack about not putting the check in with our i600-a, I calmed down and read the instruction sheet that I printed off when I googled the form. It says that if you do not send in the fee, or sign it they will simply send it back. I tried to call fedex and cancel the shipment of the form, but of course it had already been delivered. So, I triple checked the form and the fee this time and sent it again via fedex. I am praying to God that this will not keep us from being approved and from getting our fingerprinting appointment. I feel so stupid, but alas here we are.

uuggghhhh

Well we just sent off our I600-A, but however at 3:30 a.m I have realized I forgot to put in the check..yeah I really hope this doesn't mess up our chances of having the form approved when i resend it tomorrow. I guess I was just so excited to send it off that I forgot the check. UUGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah-got

Well today I went to get the mail and in it was one of the shirts we had ordered for my brother. We are planning on telling our family soon and giving them shirts that have Amharic written on them. The one we recieved today has the word for uncle written in Amharic on it. I've been very emotional throughout the process thus far, but I never expected to feel so strongly about this one shirt. Today looking at this shirt I realized this will change my relationship with my brother and that amazed me. My brother and I had been close as kids, but as we grew up and became teenagers we grew apart. Now that I am married and he is in college four hours away, our relationship has grown and in the positive direction. Looking at this shirt made me cry. My brother has no idea that he is going to become an uncle ( if all goes to plan, knock on wood). I just can't believe that he will become an Ah-got ( uncle). He will forever be a part of our daughters life and I cannot wait to tell him. I know he will be excited, eventhough he is only 19 he will be great with her. If my brother ever reads this I want him to know how much I love him and how glad I am that he will be my daughters Ah-got.
(p.s I read Michael's post and am glad to see hear that he is excited, I know he will be a great daddy!)

Home study in the mail (Daddy edition)

This is daddy talking here... this is my first post on our blog. Megan kept telling me that I should post something but nothing seemed to hit. This, however, hit...

I decided that we had waited enough time to hear something about out home study. As you can read below, out Arkansas agency had completed the home study and had sent it to our Oregon agency electronically for approval. Our Oregon agency had replied that only a few things required change. We waited and waited and Megan was getting ancy... so I arrived in my office this Monday morning and decided to email our Arkansas agency to get an update. Megan had emailed them over and over and they had stopped responding. I wondered if they would ignore me too. I was surprised to receive an update from them within an hour of my message! The response: The home study is in the mail today and we should receive it tomorrow! I asked Megan and she said this means that it was approved by our Oregon agency and we can move forward! This feels official now and this is why I am posting. Now we wait to hear what to do next!

Sara Groves, "I Saw What I Saw"

Starting back up...it's about time!

Well I haven't written in a while and I felt it was time to post because we finally are one step closer to holding our daughter. We got the first draft of our homestudy in and there were very few corrections that had to be made, so hopefully it won't be long before our agency approves it! It seems like it's been months since we had our last homestudy meeting and the wait for the draft seemed endless. At several points from the last meeting til now I had kind of become lost in the process and began to feel a lot of distance with the adoption and it felt strange thinking I could have a daughter in Ethiopia. However, this past weekend we had our friend's 18 month old for two days and it made all the feelings come back to me. I watched my husband turn from a man into a father. Eventhough this little girl was not his he treated her like she was, he held her in the pool, played with her and made her laugh. It was amazing to think one day I will have that. I cannot stop thinking about our daughter and if she's been born or if she's still inside of her mother's tummy...does she have dark skin or is her skin a mocha color...is she being well taken care of? I cannot wait to hold her for the first time and to watch her grow and learn to say mommy and daddy....one step closer to my daughter....one step closer to going from a couple to a family...one step closer!

finally a release of anger

Well I had a not so wonderful day at work today. It was yet another day where I was made to do everything, yet somehow I ended up being the one in the boss' office. How that happened I don't know, but when she was rude and made me feel as big as a pin head I gave my TWO WEEK NOTICE!!!! I wanted to say so there! lol...I do everything and for some reason because I ask for help I end up the bad guy. I suppose it's neither here nor there, but still...uugggghhh. I am glad however that I will now have more time to devote to the adoption and the possibility of a daughter for us. I am still in a little shock however that I will not be getting up at 5:30 am everyday..I do have another job but it is more of an afternoon thing. I guess it hasn't sunk it yet that I will not be yelled at for nothing at all and that I will not have to beg for a raise that won't be given to me because my company doesn't care a thing about thier employees. Alright I have to give the computer up to my husband, but I just had to vent a little lol. sigghhh

Our second and last meeting

So we had our last home study meeting today...we have almost all of our paperwork completed for our dossier and only one thing left to do before we can send our dossier off!! All thats left aside from a few more papers to complete is to go before a committe and ask for approval to adopt. In Arkansas they require all adoptive parents to have been married 2 years; well we have only been married one. Our home study social worker however is head of the committe that will be deciding this and says not to worry. I am still worried but it does help that they recently decided to over turn this law now it just has to go through all the hoops first. I cannot believe that we are nearing the end of the paperwork trail..seems like we've been doing thing for months but its only been about two months!!
We have been tossing around names but we will not post anything until after our dossier is completed and approved. We don't want to jinx it after all!! The more I watch other couples videos of thier adoption the more I get excited and the more I am in disbelief that this is really happenig. Please keep our journey in your hearts and all those in Ethiopia who are waiting for a family.

First meeting

So we had our first home study meeting today. It was suppose to be at our house, but a baby emergency didn't allow our hs agency to leave the city they are located in. At 11:30 am we headed to Conway Ar., which is 2 hours away. I was so nervous that I could barely hold myself together. After the long drive to thier office we were finally able to sigh with relief when we saw the faces of our social workers. Ed and Sharon are a "mom and pops" type of agency. They do home studies, and all adoptions. They gave us all the information we would need in order to proceed and then some. They were super welcoming and made us feel comfortable right away. We could not have asked for a better agency to use for our home study. I think it really set in with the both of us today that we could have a daughter in the near future. Of course, we dont want to jinx anything, but could this really be happening??? The long drive back home gave us plenty of time to talk and reflect on the eventful day...and what a day it was.

really getting started

So we have our first home study appointment scheduled for June 1st. I am so nervous, I have even taken off work to try and prepare. I have no clue what to expect,but hope it's not too difficult. I just keep thinking something will stop our process and not allow us to adopt ( i hope and pray this isn't so) so i try and prepare myself if that is the case. Radu keeps telling me not to worry that everything will fall into place, but how can i relax when our future is in thier hands?? I haven't bought anything for our little one yet because i do not want to jump ahead, but i have been looking and I want to do the nursery in shabby Chic floral print...not as old fashioned as it sounds....I cannot wait to start buying stuf for the baby, but i am going to wait until our home study is approved. Well on goes the process of completing forms for our general Dossier and Formal Dossier...so strange to be actually doing this. We are so excited...our fingers remain crossed!

A shock

So,this is our first step into our adoption from Ethiopia. We have received our email from Radu that says we are accepted...I guess it hasn't sunk in yet, I feel like Radu is going to say " just kidding, we denied you" ....but he's not we're accepted!!!!! I cannot believe it is possible that we may actually have a daughter in the near future. We know it will be a long process, however it seems like a long time coming and we're ready for it! Now to start all the paper work...where to start? I guess we just take one piece of paper at a time. We're not extremely religious people, but we do believe that God has us going through this process for a reason. We cannot wait to see what the future holds!