Let's See - Can you guess what Ashton's Sunday School lesson was about today

While putting Ashton down for his Sunday nap (and mine), he starting talking about his sissy. He said that if anyone tried to be mean to her that he would make a basket to put her in and then let her float down the Nile. He said the princess would pick her up and take her live in the castle where he would come and take care of her. Let's see, upon hearing his plan, does the name Moses come to your mind?

I couldn't help but think just how much Moses' story from his early life parallels with that of Ethiopian orphans. Most families abandon their children not because they don't care about them but because they cannot care for them adequately. The families make the ultimate sacrifice in giving up their children so that their children can live a wonderful life with foreigners who can provide for them and love them. Isn't this what Moses' mother did? She knew that in order for his life to be spared, she had to take extreme measures to protect him. Just as she always loved Moses, don't you think that most parents of Ethiopian orphans think about them and still love them. What an awesome responsibility we have as adoptive parents to care for these children who have been entrusted to us!

Finally, Ukraine is Behind Us

Well, we received our money from our Ukraine facilitator this evening - praise God! Thanks to everyone who lifted us up in your prayers because this was a huge relief for us. It is wonderful to know that we can move forward in our adoption journey and leave our Ukraine worries behind us. The first half of our journey taught us a lot about each other, other people, and most of all - to rely on God.

We are so relieved to know that we no longer have to tangle with our facilitator. I'm sure he's just as glad to be done with our family as we are to be done with him. I only wish that Ukraine would do more to unite forever families. Our prayers will forever be with the orphans of Ukraine.

General Info about Ethiopian Adoption

Since listing our e-mail address on our blogs, we have received quite a few inquiries about the Ethiopian process and how if differs from Ukraine. The biggest difference between the programs that we have seen is that young, healthy children are available in Ethiopia...praise God!

Below is an e-mail that we just received from a family coordinator with America World who just returned from a month long stay in Ethiopia. I hope you find it informative!

Dear Families,

My one month stay in Ethiopia was long but productive. It was beneficial to me to be able to learn the in country process to better equip myself in assisting families during their adoption. It was also wonderful to meet and play with the older children and actually get to hold the little ones. Seeing these wonderful children was what I needed to give me a renewed sense of purpose and urgency to ensure that they are united to loving families in the shortest time possible. Most of all, meeting the children gave me a new appreciation and respect for those that have and continue to open their homes and hearts to children from Ethiopia.

My main reason for traveling to Ethiopia was to find ways to better the program and as it grows, to ensure that we grow along with it to meet the new demand.

Finding new orphanages to partner with was of the utmost importance and most of my time there was spent traveling outside of Addis to tour different orphanages. I am excited to announce that we were blessed to establish a new partnership with Gelgela Orphanage. They are located a few miles from our Transitional Home and have already referred children to our agency. Gelgela orphanage is expanding its projects (education & children sponsorship) in southern and northern Ethiopia. We are honored to support them in their new sponsorship program in Gojam (North Ethiopia).

As most of you know Adoption from Ethiopia has grown popular in the past year. In the last two years the number of adoptions from Ethiopia by US citizens has increased by 100%. While there were only a handful of US adoption agencies working in Ethiopia two years ago, there are now over 30. Most people are attracted to the program for the same reason; compared to other countries it has proven to be the quickest and there is a need for adoptive families as there are many orphans. Because of this increased interest families should expect to wait longer for a referral than some of the families who adopted a year ago when the number of prospective adoptive families applying to the Ethiopia program was not so high.

Of Coarse such growth in the program and striving to meet the demand is not only a challenge for agencies but also for the Ethiopian government and adoption officials. As an Agency we are also responsible in ensuring that all the children have the correct paperwork and are true orphans in need of a home before accepting them to refer to families.

I was able to meet with officials and listen as well as discuss ways to continue facilitating smooth and successful adoptions from Ethiopia. Meeting with them also opened my eyes to the different problems and set backs they have at the office as they don’t have the resource a developed country has. One such problem is Power outages through out the city.

As most of you know, power is currently rationed throughout Ethiopia because of the lack of rain. There is no power two to three days out of the 5 business days. This has created all processes to slow down. For instance MOWA cannot write recommendation letters to court on some days because of power outages resulting in rescheduling of court dates. Or the Vital office cannot issue a birth certificate because of the same problem. Families should expect some delays after a referral and leading up to travel because of these reasons.

The current wait time for both infant girls and boys is 7-9 months. The wait time is also 7-9 months for toddlers and children up to 5 years old.

The wait time after referral has also increased. Families should expect to travel 8-12 weeks after referral. If families receive a referral between August 7 and October 7 (During Court Closure) then they should expect to travel 12-16 weeks after referral.

Even though the wait time has increased, I have all the confidence in the adoption officials in Ethiopia and they are doing all they can with the limited resources they have to process the adoption cases in a timely manner.

I thank the Lord for each one of you and for giving you the desire to adopt from Ethiopia. May He continue to guide you and give you perseverance as you wait for your child.

My Sister's Swearing-in Ceremony before the TN Supreme Court

Swearing-In Ceremony held at James Polk Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center

Last Tuesday, June 3, 2008, I had the honor of presenting my little sister, Leigh, to the Tennessee Supreme Court for admission into the Tennessee Bar. She's worked very hard to reach this milestone in life. I was a nervous wreck in presenting her, but it went off without a hitch. Present were our parents, Jim and Debbie; our maternal grandmother (only grandparent we have left alive); and Jason. Needless to say, this was NOT an event to bring a 3 year old too. I could just hear him exclaiming in the middle of the presentation, "What my BoBo and Momma doing?"

Here are some pictures from a momentous event in my family's life:

My sister, Leigh

Our Family







Four of the TN Supreme Court Justices

The big moment - Leigh's presentation!







Celebration Lunch

Celebration Cake for Work

America World Goes To Bat For Us

On Monday evening, we received an e-mail from America World stating that we were in fact only going to receive the lessened amount due to an error in communication. Well, this didn't sit too well with us - "oops" just wasn't going to cut it. So, late that evening (after tempers had cooled), I sent an e-mail back to America World detailing why were so upset. There was a lot that went on from mid-Dec. of 2007 until we exited the program in mid-April of 2008 that has not been discussed with the general public.

We spent A LOT of money completely redoing our home study and dossier at the instruction of Yuri (our facilitator) and our family coordinator (who has since left AWAA). We didn't find out until the end of March that in early Dec., Yuri had received a letter stating that we were not going to be given a child matching our request and that updated docs weren't going to be accepted. The kicker for us is that while he received the letter in December, we were not told about it and even after we received our copy (in Urkainian) and faxed it to him in March, he still never informed us of the contents. Both our family coordinator and Yuri knew that we were alarmed because of not knowing the contents, however our questions to them were not answered. All we heard from America World is that everything was fine and not to worry but no specifics were given - I'm not even sure that our family coordinator knew of the actual content of the letter. Fortunately, we were able to have the letter translated locally, so we knew the contents at that point in time. If only we would have known back in December what was happening with our case, we would have switched countries back then and not paid to redo the dossier for Ukraine. Frustrations, frustrations...the sad part is, the person the only person in Ukraine that we thought we could truly trust was the one who caused the frustration because he was not straightforward with us.

I just spoke with an America World representative who stated that until she received our rather detailed e-mail that she had no idea of all that our family went through. Unfortunately, when she was given our file before our family coordinator left the agency, she was only given the bare basics. I am thank to report that Yuri is going to agree to pay $400.00 more than he last stated and America World is going to credit to our Ethiopian adoption the remaining $600.00. We sincerely appreciate America World going to bat for us with Yuri as well as picking-up the slack.

I did ask the AWAA rep. as to whether or not they will continue to use Yuri's services and was told that at this time, the Ukraine program is not moving nor is it expected to move anytime soon. Over the last several months, Ukraine has gotten worse, not better, so the agency does not foresee new families entering the program. If Ukraine begins to move in a positive direction and the program is revitalized, then IF they consider using Yuri's services again, there will be a lot tighter restrictions on when he receives money from a family. I was told that a lot will change IF that happens but right now, that is not even on the radar. If it were me, I would not use his services ever again, however when I voiced that opinion, I was told that he has been an agent for AWAA for several years and it is not until now that they have started experiencing problems with his services however the agency has learned a lot through our experience.

For us, we are glad to put this scenario behind us. We should receive our money soon (by the end of the week we are told), so I am looking forward to posting that our business in Ukraine is complete!

Thank you America World for standing by us!

Thank you, family and friends, for all your prayers.

$$$ and Excuses - Trying to Put Ukraine Behind Us

As you may recall from an earlier post, we were supposed to receive a refund on June 1, 2008, from our Ukrainian facilitator, Yuri Safanov, for funds that he was paid to complete our adoption. Whereas we never received a child, our adoption was not completed and the funds were not earned. When we were urged by America World to withdraw from the program, we were told a specific sum that would be returned to us by Yuri. Since early April, we have received a lot of runaround about our money. Our family coordinator ended-up telling me that the money was no longer available, so Yuri was going to have to wait until another family arrived in-country to use the money that they paid him in order to pay us. Now, in America, if that's the way that I handled a client's money, I would be disbarred. Obviously, Ukraine does not adhere to the ethical principles that our country has adopted.

We received an e-mail from America World on Friday afternoon stating that Yuri wanted an extension until the end of August. As a courtesy, if we would grant the extension, he stated that he would "give" us $400.00 as interest. Get this, the e-mail quoted a refund amount $1,000.00 less than that which was promised to us! Fortunately, I still have the e-mails that our family coordinator and I exchanged in which the amount that we were originally promised was clearly stated. I immediately responded to the e-mail and expressed my great concern over this matter. I followed-up with a phone call to America World and after giving my name and why I was calling, I was placed on hold for a significant period of time before being told that the individual I needed to speak with had left for the day. The frustration was mounting very quickly by this point! I faxed copies of the e-mail to America World. Later that evening, I received an e-mail reply from America World stating that they would look into the matter. I feel great compassion for the young lady who replaced our family coordinator because she is now involved in a matter that she had absolutely nothing to do with is having to deal with very upset families and a facilitator who apparently is the person that we all initially thought he was.

When we were in Ukraine last November, we told Yuri that the international adoption world is very small thanks to the internet. He just laughed and said that he didn't think so. We told him that we had connected with families all across the world and that many of us were following each other's journey. Actually, since returning from Ukraine, we have been contacted by 6 families who were either using Yuri's services or were thinking about using him. A reputation is easily damaged and not so easy to restore. I truly don't think he realizes that it's not funny to mess with adoptions because when he does, he is striking at the core of a family - their hearts and children. If anyone out there is thinking about using Yuri, be very, very careful. Times are getting hard in Ukraine and with the lifestyle that he enjoys - your money is a precious commodity that is greatly desired. I urge you - BE CAREFUL!

Well, it's almost 3:30 p.m. on Monday and I haven't heard a peep from anyone. I am hoping that is because America World is earnestly trying to resolve this problem. I was so mad on Friday that I was seeing red. My frustration wasn't so much at AWAA as it was at Yuri because we are so tired of being jerked around. Another family who is in the same boat as we are made a good point - since Yuri had already spent all our money, then how was he going to pay the "fees" that were necessary in order to get us a good referral and complete the adoption? I pity any family that is using them because if he is going to have to use their money in order to refund us, then how is he going to pay the "fees" associated with their adoption?!

Just two weeks ago, Yuri sent us an e-mail stating that he would have no trouble getting us our money by last week because he had 2 families who were coming-in for appointments. What happened there? If we agree to wait until August, our fear is that we will only be put-off again.

I have a simple solution to this - if America World trusts him and thinks that he will indeed provide the money, then credit our account so that we do not have to pay the fee due upon referral or the travel package - that's an even trade for the amount we're owed. It would be nice to be able to put the money back into a CD to gain interest while we wait for our referral, but at least with my solution we will know that we will get our money.

Please pray for a very speedy resolution to this problem. We want to put our Ukraine experience as far behind us as possible. We need closure. We'll never stop praying for the orphans, however it is time for us to move forward.

Home Study is Complete ;0

We just received an e-mail from our social worker stating that Terra has signed-off on our home study and it is now complete! This is absolutely awesome news because now we can request our change of country from USCIS. We're almost ready to send our dossier to Ethiopia!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, we tackled our life insurance verification with State Farm. The rather confused/inept notary/secretary couldn't believe that we actually requested she use State Farm letterhead to print-off the computer screen with all the pertinent info. She said that she hasn't used letterhead in years because they don't do work in the office because the important work is done at home office - her notary skills certainly back-up that statement! The good news is that we've got what we need and shouldn't have to deal with her again.

We also were fingerprinted again yesterday. The Nashville USCIS office has moved to a much easier to locate facility. We were in and out in under 10 minutes. The same people who worked with us previously were the ones to work with us this time and remembered about our adoption. Sadly though, they told us of another local family who just returned after 4 weeks in-country and $50,000.00 later only to leave Ukraine without a child. Their story very much resembled ours - I made sure to say a special prayer for that family and for their new adoption venture with another country.

By the way, the timing was great yesterday with my sister's swearing-in ceremony and the fingerprinting appointment. By 10:30 a.m., I had presented my sister and was seated back with my family. We were actually able to watch most of the ceremony before leaving for our USCIS appointment. We arrived very early because the locations were so close together and were out of USCIS before 11:30 a.m.! We were able to go to State Farm and then meet-up with our family at Mimi's Cafe for an awesome lunch!

Once again, God's timing is always perfect!