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Monday, September 28- THE DAY
16 years ago
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 29th, 7:00am
Last night on our way home, we happened to run into Ato Teklu (our attorney and "host" more or less), and Mr. Menywab Assefa, director of Bete Hitsanat Association (an association that has hundreds of children at 3 orphanages in Ethiopia--one from which Esther came). They invited us to have coffee (or kaffe) with them. We had a wonderful 2-hour conversation about life in Ethiopia: the struggles, the attempts at development, needs, growth, outside organizatons, the culture. It was wonderfully insightful. I love Menywab's desire to make a difference, and his ability to believe he can and is. In a sea of great need, I often wonder if I would have such courage.
I treasure these "random" moments that the Lord has brought to us.
We are off to the market. :)
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web's latest sports videos. Check it out.
I treasure these "random" moments that the Lord has brought to us.
We are off to the market. :)
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web's latest sports videos. Check it out.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Cleared at Embassy ... get Esther's Visa Tomorrow
Tuesday, July 28, 2:15pm
Our trip to the US Embassy went very well yesterday. We sincerely applaud the efforts and diligence of our attorney here who has worked so hard on our behalf getting everything in order. It has been smooth sailing.
We even kept little Esther with us all day yesterday and last night; it was wonderful to have some time to bond with her. She makes us laugh with her big smile and gorgeous big eyes. We can't wait to share her with you all. We are going to attempt to attach some pictures for you, too.
Today we took a taxi to the Hilton to confirm our airline flights (they have airline offices in the hotel). I cannot begin to explain how diffiicult it is for my brain to understand the complexity of the economic differences within a 100 feet of each other. Here we sit in luxury, sipping a Sprite by the pool. Yet since we arrived, we have been staying just down the road on the main street in Addis, and up until now, have only experienced the extreme poverty; it is indescribable, unlike anything we could have imagined. The two worlds are but a street apart, yet one breathes hope and possibility, and one breathes hopelessness and despair. I suppose this must be true of most third-world countries, but it is more than this mind can come to peace with. My heart aches for more answers, to make sense of it, hating that I feel so worthless in this sea of great need.
We are still amazed everyday at the kindness and hospitality of the Ethiopian people. It is wonderful and heart-warming to interact with them. Such beautiful people.
Blessings to all of you! We miss you!
Bing™ brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.
Our trip to the US Embassy went very well yesterday. We sincerely applaud the efforts and diligence of our attorney here who has worked so hard on our behalf getting everything in order. It has been smooth sailing.
We even kept little Esther with us all day yesterday and last night; it was wonderful to have some time to bond with her. She makes us laugh with her big smile and gorgeous big eyes. We can't wait to share her with you all. We are going to attempt to attach some pictures for you, too.
Today we took a taxi to the Hilton to confirm our airline flights (they have airline offices in the hotel). I cannot begin to explain how diffiicult it is for my brain to understand the complexity of the economic differences within a 100 feet of each other. Here we sit in luxury, sipping a Sprite by the pool. Yet since we arrived, we have been staying just down the road on the main street in Addis, and up until now, have only experienced the extreme poverty; it is indescribable, unlike anything we could have imagined. The two worlds are but a street apart, yet one breathes hope and possibility, and one breathes hopelessness and despair. I suppose this must be true of most third-world countries, but it is more than this mind can come to peace with. My heart aches for more answers, to make sense of it, hating that I feel so worthless in this sea of great need.
We are still amazed everyday at the kindness and hospitality of the Ethiopian people. It is wonderful and heart-warming to interact with them. Such beautiful people.
Blessings to all of you! We miss you!
Bing™ brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Off to the US Embassy
Monday, July 27, 11:45am
So I am operating under at least half of the amount of sleep I normally need to function, so at best, these postings will communicate that we are alive and happy ... exhausted, but happy.
We are heading out to our US Embassy appointment in about 45 minutes. One more step that is necessary in order to obtain Esther's visa. Plus, we get to take Esther with us, so it is one more time that we get to spend with her. We have chosen to spend time with her during the day and then let her stay with the nannies at the transition house during the night. We are flying up north in a few days to visit the orphanage at which she was originally placed. From there we will also travel by car to visit the police station of the policeman who found her, and visit the location at which she was found. So all that to say, we thought it best to spend time letting her get used to us, but still have the consistency of her "home" with the nannies at night, rather than bring her to the guesthouse with us for 3 days and then take her back to the transition house for 3 days while we travel. Too much shuffling for this little babe. So we will wait until we return from Bahir Dar before we bring her to our room with us.
I sure hope the embassy doesn't ask me anything that requires an articulate or intelligent answer. "Yes" and "No" questions are best at this point.
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Celebrate the moment with your favorite sports pics. Check it out.
So I am operating under at least half of the amount of sleep I normally need to function, so at best, these postings will communicate that we are alive and happy ... exhausted, but happy.
We are heading out to our US Embassy appointment in about 45 minutes. One more step that is necessary in order to obtain Esther's visa. Plus, we get to take Esther with us, so it is one more time that we get to spend with her. We have chosen to spend time with her during the day and then let her stay with the nannies at the transition house during the night. We are flying up north in a few days to visit the orphanage at which she was originally placed. From there we will also travel by car to visit the police station of the policeman who found her, and visit the location at which she was found. So all that to say, we thought it best to spend time letting her get used to us, but still have the consistency of her "home" with the nannies at night, rather than bring her to the guesthouse with us for 3 days and then take her back to the transition house for 3 days while we travel. Too much shuffling for this little babe. So we will wait until we return from Bahir Dar before we bring her to our room with us.
I sure hope the embassy doesn't ask me anything that requires an articulate or intelligent answer. "Yes" and "No" questions are best at this point.
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Celebrate the moment with your favorite sports pics. Check it out.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
We're Here!
We arrived in Ethiopia late last night and made it to bed around 11pm. It has been a whirlwind the last 18 hours! But the best part of the trip is that we just got to meet our sweet girl. She is so beautiful and it was SO wonderful to hold her and finally meet this beautiful life we have been praying for and dreaming of meeting. She is such a happy, happy baby! And the nannies are so wonderful with the children. They were the only ones that could get Esther to giggle. It was priceless. We are amazed and thankful for the wonderful care she is receiving. I think I said "Oh my goodness" about 100 times in 5 minutes. We were speechless and so deeply moved to hold her and be with her. It was such a special, special time. All the children are wonderfully happy, yet also wonderfully excited to be a part of a forever family.
Even in this short amount of time, it has been such an emotional trip. I was feeling so many different emotions and confused at to what I was actually suppose to be feeling! But then I realized, so we are experiencing so many loaded things that it makes sense that we are experiencing such a range of emotion. Traveling to Ethiopia for two weeks and leaving our 3 small children at home was very challenging; going two nights without sleep is exhausting; seeing such extreme poverty is, at times, paralyzing; meeting our girl was so exhilerating and moving; seeing so many other children without families is heartbreaking; experiencing the love and hospitality of the Ethiopian people is humbling and life-changing. And we've only been here less than one day.
We are beyond tired. But so passionately thankful.
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web's latest sports videos. Check it out.
Even in this short amount of time, it has been such an emotional trip. I was feeling so many different emotions and confused at to what I was actually suppose to be feeling! But then I realized, so we are experiencing so many loaded things that it makes sense that we are experiencing such a range of emotion. Traveling to Ethiopia for two weeks and leaving our 3 small children at home was very challenging; going two nights without sleep is exhausting; seeing such extreme poverty is, at times, paralyzing; meeting our girl was so exhilerating and moving; seeing so many other children without families is heartbreaking; experiencing the love and hospitality of the Ethiopian people is humbling and life-changing. And we've only been here less than one day.
We are beyond tired. But so passionately thankful.
Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web's latest sports videos. Check it out.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Great News!
Our agency called and said that Ato Teklu, (our attorney and representative in Ethiopia) is "confident" that we will be able to have everything we need to make the US embassy appointment on Monday! So, Lord willing, we will all get to come home together after our two week stay!
Monday, July 20, 2009
A Bump in the Road
I have put off writing this post because it seemed too confusing to try and explain (and I was secretly hoping it would just resolve itself), but this is part of our journey, too, so I will try and explain it as best as I can.
Our adoption agency, has US embassy appointments in Ethiopia every other Monday. This is the appointment that we are required to be at and determines when we travel to Ethiopia. For several reasons, our adoption agency requested an additional embassy date in between their two normally scheduled dates. The US embassy granted their request, so we purchased our plane tickets. Several days later, we were informed that the US embassy had decided to overturn their original decision and no longer allow us to have our embassy date on August 3rd. So that left us with two options, 1) change our tickets to one week later for embassy on August 10th, however, just in those few days the coach seats sold out and only business is available, which puts us at a total of $4,500 to change the tickets, OR 2) leave the tickets as is and pray all our paperwork arrives in time for us to make the embassy appointment two weeks prior on July 27. However, if the paperwork does not arrive, I will have to stay until the next emabsssy date on August 10th, and Wai Tim will return home. And then I will just have to buy a new one-way ticket home on August 13th. Certainly not an ideal situation, but we press on with what we have before us. Either way, we will come home with a beautiful little girl.
WE have decided to leave our tickets as is and pray for a miracle that all our documents are ready to go by Monday. It is a bit of a stretch to say it mildly. This change also effects when and how we will be traveling around Ethiopia, but like the agency keeps telling me ... "we will make it work." So we may have to audible things as we go, but we should know more by the time we arrive in Ethiopia on Saturday.
We fly out Friday at noon and arrive on Saturday at noon (a 20 hour flight with a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam). Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us, so that puts us in Ethiopia about 10pm Saturday night. We are so hoping we get to meet sweet Esther on Sunday, but again, plans have been all turned around and we have to stay flexible.
Thank you for following our journey, and thank you most of all for praying for us. I feel covered by the Lord and surrounded by your love.
Our adoption agency, has US embassy appointments in Ethiopia every other Monday. This is the appointment that we are required to be at and determines when we travel to Ethiopia. For several reasons, our adoption agency requested an additional embassy date in between their two normally scheduled dates. The US embassy granted their request, so we purchased our plane tickets. Several days later, we were informed that the US embassy had decided to overturn their original decision and no longer allow us to have our embassy date on August 3rd. So that left us with two options, 1) change our tickets to one week later for embassy on August 10th, however, just in those few days the coach seats sold out and only business is available, which puts us at a total of $4,500 to change the tickets, OR 2) leave the tickets as is and pray all our paperwork arrives in time for us to make the embassy appointment two weeks prior on July 27. However, if the paperwork does not arrive, I will have to stay until the next emabsssy date on August 10th, and Wai Tim will return home. And then I will just have to buy a new one-way ticket home on August 13th. Certainly not an ideal situation, but we press on with what we have before us. Either way, we will come home with a beautiful little girl.
WE have decided to leave our tickets as is and pray for a miracle that all our documents are ready to go by Monday. It is a bit of a stretch to say it mildly. This change also effects when and how we will be traveling around Ethiopia, but like the agency keeps telling me ... "we will make it work." So we may have to audible things as we go, but we should know more by the time we arrive in Ethiopia on Saturday.
We fly out Friday at noon and arrive on Saturday at noon (a 20 hour flight with a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam). Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us, so that puts us in Ethiopia about 10pm Saturday night. We are so hoping we get to meet sweet Esther on Sunday, but again, plans have been all turned around and we have to stay flexible.
Thank you for following our journey, and thank you most of all for praying for us. I feel covered by the Lord and surrounded by your love.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Our Letter ...
This is a letter we've written up for a few friends and family. Also wanted to post it here. Happy reading! :)
___________________________
"When does God begin His special plan in a life? Is it when He gives a promise or when He finally brings the promise to pass? Although it may not always be obvious to us, there seems to be one distinct moment when God begins a new story in each of our lives. He writes words on our hearts that long to be spoken and strain to be lived out. Then with His own great hand, He begins to write the script. Experience by experience through seemingly ordinary days, He supernaturally orders our lives. Only when we look back and reflect on what appeared to have been the ordinary events of life does it become clear what a miracle the Lord has performed." - The Strength of Mercy, Jan Beazely.
On January 4th we heard a sermon on adoption. A message of how we, as children of God, were orphaned children, lost without a home, until Christ came and adopted us into the Kingdom of God. And what a price He paid that we would have a place to call home, a forever family. His sacrifice was great, the reward greater still. What a beautiful representation of adoption. Independently, we were both deeply provoked, stirred, painfully and wonderfully moved to a moment of action. We were both silent on the car ride home from church, broken-hearted for the orphaned children and afraid of the awakening we both were feeling, but not quite ready to articulate outloud.
We have always had a little seed in our hearts to adopt a child someday, but with 3 little ones at home, adoption had been tucked away until "another day," at best. At least, so we thought. After that service, our hearts could not be silenced. Not another day was going to pass without us taking the next step toward reducing the number of orphans by one. On January 20th, after countless hours of prayer, discussion, meeting with adoptive families, and 100 hours of research on adoption agencies, we turned in our application to adopt through WACAP's Ethiopia program. It every sense of the word and to some people around us, it did not necessarily "make sense" for us to adopt. We weren't looking for more things to fill our life with, the financial expense is heavy, nor do we feel like amazing parents, or super qualified to do this. And we talked with much wiser people than us, to address all of these concerns. But the urgency would not relent and it began to feel like an act of obedience to us. We really cannot look lightly at what a transformation took place in our heart that Sunday. We walked into the service that day, sure our family was "complete" with five, and we walked out of the service, assured that someone else would be joining our family. It is amazing what the Holy Spirit can do in minutes, that we could not even have conjured up in years. One of our favorite parts of the process thus far, is the assurance that He spoke to us that day, and the unity we've experienced in being confident of this. How turbulent the waters would be, had we not been in agreement, even ever so slightly. That's not to say that the process has gone without some unexpected turns, but we were forced to "not doubt in the dark, what God had shown us in the light."
One of our unexpected turns, is how quickly the process has gone for us. It will only be six months from the time we applied to adopt, to the time she will be in our arms. We're approaching a week and a half until we leave for Ethiopia to meet our daughter and bring her home. We just couldn't be more excited. Another one of our unexpected turns was that Wai Tim was laid-off from his job of three years, 9 weeks after we applied to the adoption agency. Of course at that time, people inquired whether or not we were still going to adopt. And though we paused to ask ourselves the same question, we decided we believed that when the Lord called us to adopt it had nothing to do with money, so we didn’t feel any less called to do it because of the "lack" of money either. So we plugged on. Wai Tim has been so diligently looking for work, but times are tough for everyone, and he is still looking. We have moved back to Lake Chelan for the time being, as his dad has graciously allowed him to work on their family orchard until something else becomes available.
We wanted to take this time to share with you an update on our lives and introduce you to our new, beautiful daughter, Esther. On April 4th, she was found along what is locally known as the "Mewat River", at what they believe was around 7 days old. The police took her to a nearby orphanage where she stayed for two months. She has now been transferred down to a transition house run by our adoption agency, where she will remain until we pick her up.
We are also writing to petition you to be praying for us, our baby girl, and our travels. As the Lord leads, we are jealous for your prayers! Sometimes we have a stirring in our heart that there might be more to this trip than just picking up Esther. We are traveling to Ethiopia a week early to visit orphanages and just see if there is anything else the Lord would want to reveal to our heart while we are there. Please pray that our spirit will be soft to hear and receive His heart and direction. And for sweet Esther, please pray that she would feel "chosen" all the days of her life, and never "orphaned," that she would live in the assurance of God's mighty love and favor over her. Please pray for her protection, and that her health would be strong and freed from all illness.
Lastly, we ask that you pray for direction and provision for our family--for Wai Tim's employment and financial resources to cover our adoption fees. At times we've been sticking our head in the sand, and plugging our fingers in our ears and signing, "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones ... " to try and drown out reality. And it's fun while it lasts. At times there are moments of fear. But like I told Wai Tim the night he lost his job ... we still have everything that matters. I keep praying for a swift, clear direction of the Lord's hand in moving Wai Tim to his next new job. Neither of us care where or what, but just to have the assurance that it is where He desires for us to be. Though, that is not how He has directed us in the past. Our experience is that we fumble around alone, in what feels like the dark, without any sense of real direction, and then sort of fall into place. It isn't until much later that we can look back and realize, we were never alone, nor in the dark, and we ended up right where He was directing us all along. So the good news is, we'll probably end up where He wants us. The bad news is, we have no idea how, where, or when we'll get there.
We have partnered with LifeSong for Orphans, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world. LifeSong has established an account in our name, that allows others to make donations towards helping fund our adoption. All donations made are tax-deductible to the giver, and a receipt will be issued automatically. 100% of the donations made in our name with go directly to only our adoption. Our desire is to raise $13,000 by August 13th--every penny counts. If you are moved to do so, the details are at the bottom.
This has been an exciting journey, and certainly one that goes down in the memory books for us. We anticipate our trip to Ethiopia will also go down as one of the memorable times of our life. We are trying to document as much as can, both for ourselves and for Esther to read someday. We also post updates on many stages of our life and the adoption process at www.waiandkari.blogspot.com. We don't want to romanticize our experience or over-spiritualize it to say that this has been a perfect process and God couldn't have done this without us. No! We just simply tried to listen as best as we could, and be faithful to what we believe He is asking of our life. That's all. And is it not a call for all of us to "care for the orphans and the widows?" So even if we "heard wrong" that Sunday, we have the peace the Lord still has us in the palm of His hand, even in our potentially naive attempts to fulfill His commands. We feel speechless and so incredibly thankful to be a small piece of His very large masterpiece.
"In this life we cannot do great things, we can only do small things with great love."- Mother Teresa (whom Esther will take the middle-name "Teresa")
We love you,
Wai Tim & Kari
www.waiandkari.blogspot.com
Note: Donations can be made out to LifeSong and sent to: LifeSong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744. Please be sure to include “Petersen 873 Adoption” in the memo." Thank you so much.
___________________________
"When does God begin His special plan in a life? Is it when He gives a promise or when He finally brings the promise to pass? Although it may not always be obvious to us, there seems to be one distinct moment when God begins a new story in each of our lives. He writes words on our hearts that long to be spoken and strain to be lived out. Then with His own great hand, He begins to write the script. Experience by experience through seemingly ordinary days, He supernaturally orders our lives. Only when we look back and reflect on what appeared to have been the ordinary events of life does it become clear what a miracle the Lord has performed." - The Strength of Mercy, Jan Beazely.
On January 4th we heard a sermon on adoption. A message of how we, as children of God, were orphaned children, lost without a home, until Christ came and adopted us into the Kingdom of God. And what a price He paid that we would have a place to call home, a forever family. His sacrifice was great, the reward greater still. What a beautiful representation of adoption. Independently, we were both deeply provoked, stirred, painfully and wonderfully moved to a moment of action. We were both silent on the car ride home from church, broken-hearted for the orphaned children and afraid of the awakening we both were feeling, but not quite ready to articulate outloud.
We have always had a little seed in our hearts to adopt a child someday, but with 3 little ones at home, adoption had been tucked away until "another day," at best. At least, so we thought. After that service, our hearts could not be silenced. Not another day was going to pass without us taking the next step toward reducing the number of orphans by one. On January 20th, after countless hours of prayer, discussion, meeting with adoptive families, and 100 hours of research on adoption agencies, we turned in our application to adopt through WACAP's Ethiopia program. It every sense of the word and to some people around us, it did not necessarily "make sense" for us to adopt. We weren't looking for more things to fill our life with, the financial expense is heavy, nor do we feel like amazing parents, or super qualified to do this. And we talked with much wiser people than us, to address all of these concerns. But the urgency would not relent and it began to feel like an act of obedience to us. We really cannot look lightly at what a transformation took place in our heart that Sunday. We walked into the service that day, sure our family was "complete" with five, and we walked out of the service, assured that someone else would be joining our family. It is amazing what the Holy Spirit can do in minutes, that we could not even have conjured up in years. One of our favorite parts of the process thus far, is the assurance that He spoke to us that day, and the unity we've experienced in being confident of this. How turbulent the waters would be, had we not been in agreement, even ever so slightly. That's not to say that the process has gone without some unexpected turns, but we were forced to "not doubt in the dark, what God had shown us in the light."
One of our unexpected turns, is how quickly the process has gone for us. It will only be six months from the time we applied to adopt, to the time she will be in our arms. We're approaching a week and a half until we leave for Ethiopia to meet our daughter and bring her home. We just couldn't be more excited. Another one of our unexpected turns was that Wai Tim was laid-off from his job of three years, 9 weeks after we applied to the adoption agency. Of course at that time, people inquired whether or not we were still going to adopt. And though we paused to ask ourselves the same question, we decided we believed that when the Lord called us to adopt it had nothing to do with money, so we didn’t feel any less called to do it because of the "lack" of money either. So we plugged on. Wai Tim has been so diligently looking for work, but times are tough for everyone, and he is still looking. We have moved back to Lake Chelan for the time being, as his dad has graciously allowed him to work on their family orchard until something else becomes available.
We wanted to take this time to share with you an update on our lives and introduce you to our new, beautiful daughter, Esther. On April 4th, she was found along what is locally known as the "Mewat River", at what they believe was around 7 days old. The police took her to a nearby orphanage where she stayed for two months. She has now been transferred down to a transition house run by our adoption agency, where she will remain until we pick her up.
We are also writing to petition you to be praying for us, our baby girl, and our travels. As the Lord leads, we are jealous for your prayers! Sometimes we have a stirring in our heart that there might be more to this trip than just picking up Esther. We are traveling to Ethiopia a week early to visit orphanages and just see if there is anything else the Lord would want to reveal to our heart while we are there. Please pray that our spirit will be soft to hear and receive His heart and direction. And for sweet Esther, please pray that she would feel "chosen" all the days of her life, and never "orphaned," that she would live in the assurance of God's mighty love and favor over her. Please pray for her protection, and that her health would be strong and freed from all illness.
Lastly, we ask that you pray for direction and provision for our family--for Wai Tim's employment and financial resources to cover our adoption fees. At times we've been sticking our head in the sand, and plugging our fingers in our ears and signing, "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones ... " to try and drown out reality. And it's fun while it lasts. At times there are moments of fear. But like I told Wai Tim the night he lost his job ... we still have everything that matters. I keep praying for a swift, clear direction of the Lord's hand in moving Wai Tim to his next new job. Neither of us care where or what, but just to have the assurance that it is where He desires for us to be. Though, that is not how He has directed us in the past. Our experience is that we fumble around alone, in what feels like the dark, without any sense of real direction, and then sort of fall into place. It isn't until much later that we can look back and realize, we were never alone, nor in the dark, and we ended up right where He was directing us all along. So the good news is, we'll probably end up where He wants us. The bad news is, we have no idea how, where, or when we'll get there.
We have partnered with LifeSong for Orphans, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world. LifeSong has established an account in our name, that allows others to make donations towards helping fund our adoption. All donations made are tax-deductible to the giver, and a receipt will be issued automatically. 100% of the donations made in our name with go directly to only our adoption. Our desire is to raise $13,000 by August 13th--every penny counts. If you are moved to do so, the details are at the bottom.
This has been an exciting journey, and certainly one that goes down in the memory books for us. We anticipate our trip to Ethiopia will also go down as one of the memorable times of our life. We are trying to document as much as can, both for ourselves and for Esther to read someday. We also post updates on many stages of our life and the adoption process at www.waiandkari.blogspot.com. We don't want to romanticize our experience or over-spiritualize it to say that this has been a perfect process and God couldn't have done this without us. No! We just simply tried to listen as best as we could, and be faithful to what we believe He is asking of our life. That's all. And is it not a call for all of us to "care for the orphans and the widows?" So even if we "heard wrong" that Sunday, we have the peace the Lord still has us in the palm of His hand, even in our potentially naive attempts to fulfill His commands. We feel speechless and so incredibly thankful to be a small piece of His very large masterpiece.
"In this life we cannot do great things, we can only do small things with great love."- Mother Teresa (whom Esther will take the middle-name "Teresa")
We love you,
Wai Tim & Kari
www.waiandkari.blogspot.com
Note: Donations can be made out to LifeSong and sent to: LifeSong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744. Please be sure to include “Petersen 873 Adoption” in the memo." Thank you so much.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Flying Out
We booked our tickets today! Every step feels like it puts us slightly closer to our girl. Still so much to do ... time will fly by!
Monday, July 6, 2009
We Passed!
We are more than thrilled to introduce you to our new daughter. Our agency contacted us--after a test of my patience--and informed us we passed court. We are the legal parents of little baby Esther. The legal aspect hasn't affected the "feeling" that she was already our daughter, but it is so exciting to be one step closer to being able to bring her home to us. We are hoping to know a little more about travel dates tomorrow, but we are looking at the end of July.
It has been a rollercoaster of emotions. The first week we received our referral, I was elated! The second week, I was so sad to be so far away from her. The third week, I was annoyed at having to be patient. And this week, I have just been so exhausted--waiting to hear something ... and then knowing I will have to wait some more to be with her. I have relied on "things" to provide hope, and "information" to be my strength. Tonight I am tired and need to go "renew my strength like the eagle's." Tonight I need to hope in the Giver of Hope. Tonight I am so thankful, that despite my lack of faithfulness, He is faithful.
We rejoice over you, sweet Esther, and we rejoice that you will rest in the shadow of His wings until we can come for you. "He who watches over you will never slumber." Psalm 121:3 We love you.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
While We Are Sleeping ...
Time has been passing by so quickly these days ... preparing for baby, looking for jobs, fundraising, travel preparations (6 shots yesterday!), playing in the sun, 4th of July getaway, etc. It is hard to believe that our court date is tomorrow. The last few hours, I haven't been able to stop thinking that while we are sleeping tonight, that beatiful little girl in that white metal crib, will legally become our daughter. Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead, so their courts are just now opening and getting started with their cases for the day. We won't know the moment it all takes place, (and we actually won't even be notified until Monday whether or not we passed), but what a special moment. Wish we could be there to watch it unfold--and then run and hug and kiss her!
My heart is hurting for her this week ... wanting her to know we are coming for her.
Hoping we have great news to post again very soon!
My heart is hurting for her this week ... wanting her to know we are coming for her.
Hoping we have great news to post again very soon!
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