Orphan Sunday

Orphan Sunday is not until November 8, 2015. But everyday is a day where we, as adopted children of God, are to care for orphans and widows in their affliction (James 1:27). Adoption is etched into our family permanently since we adopted one of our children - we love God's purposes in adoption!

In 2013, David Platt explained the heart behind Orphan Sunday - we worship God, the Father to the fatherless. We post his short presentation, as we were recently reminded of how the church's call to adoption is a parable of our spiritual adoption in Christ.

TED Talk: The Tragedy of Orphanages and What to Do

1 million orphans in institutions in Europe and Central Asia.  Main solution: placement in families! Adopt!

Video Montage of Toph

2 minutes+ of videos strung together, plus a few pictures thrown into the end!

Toph Video

Visas by 9 AM, Milestones Achieved...

Our passports with visas arrived this morning by 9 AM!

In God's kind providence, our visit home resulted in accomplishing many objectives:

• Re-adoption MN (birth certificate included)
• Medical appointments
• Dental appointments 
• SSN 
• US passport
• Visas
• Applied for Certificate of Citizenship
• Family, Friend, Church re-connection and introductions!

Still to do this week before returning this weekend:

• Family and Friend time
• Taxes to complete
• Pack
• Last minute miscellaneous

Family Photo Shoot

Thanks, Debra!

At the Guthrie:

Re-adoption, Birth Certificate, SSN, Passport, Visa...

These are a few of the to-do list items we are working on these days for our son!

Home. For a Few Brief Weeks.

Cleared and in the US

It has been a whirlwind!

• Cleared US Embassy last Thursday, then 
• Passed US Embassy the following day
• Received our son's visa that same day
• Traveled home the next
• Arrived the day after that
• Since then, enjoying introducing him to family and friends, and working on re-adoption

Grace Guest House: Our Home Away from Home

Adoption Update: Waiting

Quickee here:
The Embassy has our application in a queue for them to interview someone related to our case. After that phone interview, if it is satisfying to the Embassy, we will be cleared and then interviewed and given our son's visa!  Right now we are having to exercise the joyfully difficult virtue of patience!

Updated Overseas Address Received

The Embassy received our updated address from our updated home study, so now we wait for the Embassy to screen our application, review it, and notify us. Waiting is so hard!

Adoption Update from Addis

Internet connection has not been the best for us here in Ethiopia, explaining why we have posted so little during this crucial time of bonding with our son here.  However, we will update the blog when we can...

Already accomplished
Passed court (just after Christmas)
Received court decree
Birth Certificate
Passport Application
Received Ethiopian passport
Embassy medical check-up
Submitted visa application to embassy for US visa

To come
US Embassy does their investigation, interviews us, gives clearance and appointment
Travel to US
Travel to Cameroon

We are praising the Lord, for it is He who has done this work of bringing us together with Christopher (Toph) and in such a short time, has granted that we be submitted to the US Embassy.  Our confidence in our Father has grown incredibly through our time in Addis, as He has answered hundreds of prayers, and we pray that Toph trust in Him with an unshakable faith like the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11.

Additional prayer request: Our updated home study was delayed in being submitted to the US, and the overseas address on our visa application here in Addis does not match that update. Our prayer is that the US will communicate this update to the Embassy in Addis quickly, that the temporary discrepancy will not hinder the processing at all of our visa request, and that we would continue to trust in the Lord through each 'bump' in the road.

Ethiopian Minibus

Today's minibus ride:

• 3 transfers (though 1 was simply due to the bus not having enough people in it)
• 1 hour 20 minutes
• $.40 USD (6.80 Birr @ 17 Birr:1 USD exchange rate)

Visa Success

We just picked up our 2-yr visas from the Embassy!  We leave tomorrow to see our son, and we find it hard to contain the excitement!

Ethiopia on Friday

We depart for Ethiopia Thursday scheduled to arrive Friday, so we would see our son late that night for the first time!

Whirlwind...

A quick apology to those faithful who check into our blog.  I believe this is the longest gap of silence we have had since we began blogging regularly a couple years ago, but we have not had access.

• During our 2-week village visit, we didn't have consistent internet (and when we had it, it was slow)
• We had 2 days after that to prepare for visa paperwork relating to our adoption
• And then another village visit with zero internet
• Then a flurry of preparations for the adoption this entire week

The bottom line: we plan to be moving towards our son beginning this weekend!

Adoption Doesn't Cost More Than A New Car

One of the main personal objections raised against adoption is its expenses.  Many of the families that we know who are passionate about adoption have never had the ability to own a new car, but they have successfully completed one or more adoptions which has enriched their families far more.

If you are one of the 17-18 million American's that purchased new cars last year (according to the Detroit Free Press), adoption shouldn't be as far out of your reach as you might think.  The average purchase price of a new car in 2010 was $29,217.  Adoption fees vary by country, amount of travel necessary, type of adoption, etc.  These fees can be anywhere from as little as $5,000 and up to $38,000 (see more details).

Like a new car purchase, adoption fees come in increments.  Unlike the new car purchase price above, the adoption expense estimates reflect fees before tax credits, employee adoption benefits, adoption grants, etc. (see how to fund an adoption).

The amount of children orphaned globally during 2010: 14,600,00*

Total number of orphans globally in 2010: 132,200,000*

*(UNICEF data on orphans) 

What if 17-18 million Americans had adopted a child last year?

Getting Ready for Baby Toph

Baby boy clothing has been gradually showing up in bags on our porch since we became parents!  Now it will be all laundered and ready for Toph when we arrive!  What a relief for new parents.  This is by far the most fun I have ever had folding clothes!

We have a son!/Nous avons un fils!

This week, we became parents!  Our son is a little over 3 months old right now, looks healthy, and is adorable. We are beginning to make travel plans and are hoping for a court date to complete the adoption as soon as possible, but realistically it will be in December.

We have named him Christopher "Toph" Samuel Tegegne. We plan another post explaining his name, though, of course, he gets his first name from me!

Sorry, we can't post images of him, yet.
_________________
Cette semaine nous sommes parents!  Notre fils a à peine 3 mois maintenant, il semble être en bon santé et il est vraiment mignon.  Nous avons commencé à faire les préparatifs tel le trajet, et nous espérons de se présenter devant le juge le plus tôt possible pour conclure l'adoption, mais nous attendrons en toute probabilité jusqu'en Decembre.

Nous l'avons nommé Christopher "Toph" Samuel Tegegne.  Alors, nous avons le projet de blogger plus tard sur lui afin de vous expliquer son nom, cependant il tire évidemment son prénom de moi!

Désolé, on ne peut pas encore affiché ses images.

Adoption Update

Still in the process of receiving a referral. One potential baby had been mentioned to us, but his medical dossier was found to be beyond what we are approved for in our home study. So, we continue waiting for a referral.