Dear Sweet Child of Ours.... 1 Year.

October 2, 2013

Dear Sweet Child of Ours,

You are worth every second of this wait.  We’ve have been on the wait-list with All God’s Children International for officially 1 year today.  The time has flown by and yet slithered by so slowly.  

When we entered this process on Mother’s Day in 2012, we knew the wait would be long.  We knew the journey would be wonderful and yet difficult, but we had no idea how difficult this wait would be.   There is not a day that we don’t think about you and your birth mom.  We pray for health for your birth mom as she prepares to carry you.  We pray for health for you and your mom throughout the pregnancy, birth, and infancy.  

We think about you so much.  We wonder what you will look like.  Will you be a boy or a girl or even siblings?  We wonder what your personality will be like and what your interests will be.  We can’t wait to love you for exactly who God is making you to be.

There are so many people here that are anxiously awaiting your arrival.  You have two wonderful sets of grandparents that love you so much already.  Your cousins can’t wait to play with you!  You have 3 cousins right now: Kayla, Zach, and Jayden.  Your aunts and uncles can’t wait to hold you and spend time with you.  There are so many friends that ask about you often.  They wonder when we can expect your arrival.  Our answer is usually the same: we have no idea, but we can’t wait to meet you!  There are also two little puppies, Sophie and Lola, that will love to meet you and give you kisses.  They are such gentle and loving pups.  You will grow to love them, I’m sure.

Whether this is our last full year of waiting, or if we have to wait one, two or three more, we want you to know that we have prayed for you since before we were married, we have prayed for you since the day we started our journey will All God’s Children International, and we will continue to pray for you until you are in our arms, as well as when we enter the journey of parenthood.  You are a blessing.  You are worth every second of this wait. 

We love you.  

Until we meet,

Mommy and Daddy

Email Updates!

Please feel free to add your email address to the upper right hand corner of this blog where is says "Receive an Email Each Time We Post!"  You will receive an email in your inbox each time we post to this blog, which is a lot easier than trying to remember to come back and check the blog frequently.

Once you enter your email, you will receive an email from FeedBurner to verify your email address.  Follow the steps in the email, and you are all set!

There is a time for everything...

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

The time to update this blog was several months ago!  We apologize for the delay since our last post. Since so much time has passed, we have a few things we need to talk about!

First and foremost, we don’t want our lack of communication to create any doubt that we’re still adopting.  We want to be very clear; we have not wavered in our desire to follow God’s plan and adopt our child(ren) from Ethiopia!  I suppose our lack of communication can be attributed to a selfish desire to not obsess over the adoption.  We knew the process would be a long journey, and there’s not a day that goes by that we both don’t think about our little Ethiopian child(ren).  The struggle we face is that we understand we likely have the majority of the journey ahead of us.  We apologize for the delay, and we promise it won’t happen again!

There have been a handful of changes to the Ethiopian adoption process through All God’s Children, most of which are non-substantive.  The most notable change you’ll experience with us is the fact that we are no longer receiving wait list numbers.  Instead, we’re provided monthly updates of all referrals and corresponding dates that the adoptive families completed their adoption paperwork.  The most recent update indicated paperwork completion dates of December 2010 and October 2011.  We completed our paperwork in October 2012. 

What does this mean?  In short, nothing; however, with no numbers to cling to, the ambiguity surrounding our place in the process multiplies, and we won’t be able to share our progress, however small it may be, with you in an easy-to-understand way each month.

The verses shared at the start of this post, taken from the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3, have adorned our living room wall since the week following our garage sale fundraiser last summer.  I’ve spent several nights meditating on these words over the past year.  While the thoughts on my mind and the triumphs and troubles of each day have changed each time I’ve read this passage, I always find myself in awe of the vast amount of choices and decisions we make each day.  How do we know which behavior is appropriate given our circumstances?  How should we handle fear, uncertainty, disappointment, loss, excitement, anticipation, and ambiguity?  In those quiet moments, I simply ask God!

Today is a gift.  Enjoy it!

DOUBLE DIGITS!

I told you... When there is big news, I will shout it from the roof tops! Our March numbers are in, and we have hit double digits! Every little bit of movement is a reason to celebrate, but for some reason this feels like a huge milestone! Here are our March numbers:

Girls: 120
Boys: 98 (woot woot!)
Siblings: 50

You may be thinking, that's still not a huge jump... And you are right, it's not huge. But, it's a milestone, and we can feel God at work each month through each little bit of movement!

Happy Easter! He is Risen! I've played this song over and over the past couple days, reflecting on what Christ selflessly did for us. All out of his LOvE for us.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=sv55FMjeMV0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dsv55FMjeMV0

Numbers Update

We are quickly approaching spring! Where has time gone? These past couple months have been pretty busy for Curt and I, so I'm sure that's why it seems as though winter has flown by. I'm amazed that I'm already starting to think about "end of the school year" things. Less than 2 weeks until Spring Break and then it's a quick sprint to summer.

We apologize for out delinquency on the blog. I hope that we have some big exciting updates coming up. The past two months have been slow moving, but Curt and I have felt great peace that God's got this. :). We have been praying that God would continue to move mountains on behalf of the children in Ethiopia, and He has heard our prayers. Here are a couple updates on answers to prayers:
1. Our agency, All God's Children, had their license renewed in Ethiopia (up for renewal every 3 years). We appreciate how our agency works fervently and ethically on behalf of the children.
2. A region of Ethiopia, Tigray, temporarily closed down adoptions in their area, and it is now re-opened. Hoping and praying the children that have been waiting will be united with their forever families soon.
3. There have been a small flow of referrals this month (more so than January or February) so we have been hoping that the next couple of months will show great movement! :)

So numbers... Here is a belated update.
Our January numbers were...
Girls- #124
Boys- #101
Siblings- # 53


Here are our February numbers...

Blessings!

Since Curt and I began this journey of adoption, we have been blessed by so many people in so many ways.  Some of these people are our closest family and friends, some are people we haven’t seen or talked to in quite some time, and some are people that we don’t even know.  

Christmas time this year was fun!  Our child is already so loved by our family and friends!  Our child already received some fun Christmas gifts.  Here are a few pictures of the cool things our child received.  

 One of my good friends moms bought us this cute blanket at a craft show.  Curt and I talked about buying one gift for baby B from now until we receive our referral.  We could very slowly fill up the nursery!  Kim gave us this blanket as our "November gift" for baby.  Thanks for being so thoughtful, Kim!

 This elephant is from Uncle Nick, Auntie April, and cousins Kayla and Zack.  They also got our sweet babe a fun play house tube to crawl through. That's staying in its packaging for the time being :)

 This poem is so special.  This is from Uncle Dan and Auntie Meghan and cousin Jayden.  Auntie Meghan was also adopted, and this is a poem near and dear to her heart.  Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Meghan!

Whoever You Are was given to us by some good friends, Jon and Ashley, when we decided to adopt.  Welcome Home Little Baby was given to us by Dan, Meghan, and Jayden as well.  As a teacher, I LOVE LOVE LOVE books.  This nursery of ours will be filled with great books for our children.  Thanks so much for getting our library started with some great multi-cultural books.

This necklace is an Ethiopian cross.  Curt received this from his Grandma.  What a great keepsake.  It was actually made in Ethiopia and purchased right here in Holland.  Thanks, Grandma!

This gift isn't for baby, but for me... and I love it.  So much!  My mother in law and father in law had this necklace made for me.  I love wearing it as we prayerfully wait on God's timing!

---------------------------

We have received many emails and notes from people that we haven’t met, but they have shared parts of their adoption journey, and others have shared that they are praying us through our journey.  

Last weekend, Curt and I encountered a very cool experience.  We LOVE our new adoption t-shirts, and we envision a day where there will be an airport filled with many people wearing these t-shirts and welcoming our child to their forever home. 

We decided to wear these t-shirts on Saturday as we ran some errands and watched some club volleyball.  We stopped at Costco to pick up a couple things for dinner, and one of the workers approached us and said, “Tell me about your shirts.  What’s the story?  Are you moving there? Adopting?”  We shared a little portion of how God lead us to adopt.   

With tears in her eyes, she shared the adoption journeys that her and her husband have been through in adopting two precious girls, one from Ethiopia and one from Ghana.  She showed pictures, and shared bits and pieces of their girls’ story, and the ways that God has worked in their lives in the past couple of years.  She then asked how she could get a shirt.  We told her that we could send her one.  She then ran off and came back with a check for us.  She said she really didn’t need a t-shirt.  She said she loves hearing about God moving in the hearts of others to adopt.  She didn’t know us, didn’t know much about our journey, but was passionate about adoption and bringing children home to their forever families.  She is working with her church to start a means of support for adoptive families.  

While we may never have the opportunity to reciprocate the blessings we’ve been showered with, we’ve certainly been touched and humbled by these experiences.  We look forward to sharing our journey with other families looking into adoption.  We look forward to blessing others who have answered to call to take a leap of faith and adopt a child into their family.  And most of all, we look forward to sharing with our child someday how much they were loved by SO many people (friends, family, and strangers alike) before they were even born!  

T-shirt Preview!

Here is a preview of our awesome T-shirts   We are selling these shirts for $15, and we have adult sizes Small to 2XL.  We also can place orders for children's T-shirts if you are interested in a child's size.  I will post real pictures of of the shirts on a later date!  In the meantime, if you are interested in a shirt, please email curt.bolhuis@gmail.com, and Curt and I will get you one.  We are happy to ship them, too.  We will get more information on the blog soon!

Adoption is...

Curt and I have officially been on the waitlist for about 3 months now.  At this point in time, we feel like we are sort of in a “land between.”  Our pastor wrote a book called The Land Between, Finding God in Difficult Transitions (check out the book here, http://www.amazon.com/dp/0310318661).  He also preached a sermon series on this book back when we began attending Ada Bible, and it was a very memorable sermon series.  One that Curt and I both really connected to.  But little did we know what that sermon series was preparing our hearts for.  

When thinking about family planning back when Curt and I were engaged and newly married, we knew that adoption was possibly one way in which we would grow our family, but we had our lives put in a neat little box.  Married at this age, first child by this age, family complete by this age.  It’s normal, right?  Well... God clearly told us that we are foolish for trying to take control of these plans.   Ultimately, He is in control, and all we can do seek His will and follow His plan for our lives.

But why is waiting so hard?  We are on this list, and now we dream of our child, and we are so longing for that day when we receive a call that the child God has chosen for us is ready to be taken home to his or her forever family.  But the reality is: we most likely have a long wait in front of us.  We are in a difficult transition where we feel like we are expecting a child and are preparing for parenthood, but there is no definite timeline.  There is not 9 months to plan, knowing full well that at the end of 9 months or so a child will be in our arms.  So here we sit, in a land between, staying positive and focusing on all the ways that God has moved in our hearts so far.  We are so BLESSED to be the parents of a sweet child or children in Ethiopia.  We are so BLESSED to be able to call him/her our SON or DAUGHTER.  They will fully and completely rely on us for their daily needs, which God willing, we will be able to provide.  God chose us to do this, and what a humbling job it will be.

So this leads me to thinking about adoption in general.  Here is how I would currently describe it.  Adoption is...

1.  Beautiful --  While adoption carries with it many emotions, it is such a beautiful gift from God.  It is heartbreaking for the birth family.  Absolutely heartbreaking.  We know that our child will be LOVED dearly by his or her birth family.  The birth family will have to make the most difficult decision of their life to choose adoption, but selflessly they will so that their child can get what he or she needs.  It’s beautiful.  Devastatingly beautiful.  

Sometimes I hear people talk about how it’s sad when people are led to the decision to adopt after months and years of infertility.  I’d respond by saying it’s sad for the birth family and the loss that the child will experience, but it’s beautiful.  It’s just how God wanted that child’s story to be.  

2.  Uncertain -- There are so many unknowns in adoption.  Each month we pray that our numbers take a big dip!  We would love to know that in exactly 2 years, we will have a referral and travel dates, but there are so many unknowns.  There is so much work that has to take place behind the scenes before a child can be adopted.  We trust that God will comfort us in the unknowns.  We know that God called us to this journey, and we will not turn from His plan.  

3.  A LOVE story -- Our child’s story is being written as we speak.  And all around, his or her story is nothing short of a LOVE story.  Parents that LOVE that baby so much and want health and a home for that child.  A God who LOVES that child so much and has a perfect plan for his or her life.  Curt and I LOVE this child that we don’t even know yet more than we can even explain.  We already feel like parents, and we will do anything to protect this child of ours while we wait.  This child is OURS and no different from any biological child that we may ever have.  God chose us to be parents to this child, and we can’t wait for this love story to play out!

NOW FOR NUMBERS!  I apologize for late posting as we will be getting new numbers again soon.  It’s really hard to plan creative ways for displaying, but I’m going to keep trying!  These are our last numbers of 2012, and as we look ahead to 2013, we pray that God will continue to lead us down the FAST LANE of this highway!!  May He move mountains in Ethiopia on behalf of the precious children!  

 For Girls, we are number....

For boys, we are number...

For siblings, we are number...

Thanks for continuing to pray us through this journey!
Be on the lookout for a post about our ADOPTION tshirts!  They are in, and they turned out great!  You won't want to miss out :)