Another Update

Ok...so we got some not so great news. Our referral isn't going to happen for another 4-5 months apparently. Also...the Ethiopian courts close from August through September, which means we might not even travel until October. However, we are still trying to think positive. On to the update....we are moving to Eau Claire by early May. Once we learned that our referral was going to take longer than expected, we decided we would move and get settled before the baby comes home. Ryan and I both got job offers and we have decided to take them and move our family to Eau Claire. I will be working at Luther Midelfort Hospital as a staff pharamcist and Ryan will be at the Newman Center on the EC campus as Director of Faith Formation and also Campus ministries. We are both very excited. We will be much closer to family, and we know their support is going to be crucial. So....if anyone knows of someone looking to move to the Red Wing area, our house will be for sale shortly. Again...we want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers through this process. We still have a ways to go and we will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Update!!!!!

Sorry to disappoint, but it isn't our referral. However, Ryan and I have made the decision to move to Eau Claire as soon as our adoption is finalized. Once we get our referral, our plan is to put our house on the market and start looking for work and houses in the Eau Claire area. We have been praying and thinking about this for a long time, and we are very excited. Our parents are also very excited, as they will now only be 45 minutes from their grandchildren. We just ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the months ahead. Please be praying for our new son/daughter and his/her birth family as well.

God Bless,
Brooke, Ryan and Reese.

Racism

Ok...so I knew that this issue would be coming up, but I never knew it would come up before we brought the child home. As some of you may or may not know, Red Wing had a murder last week. It was over drugs and it was stupid. However, throughout the week, it was amazing to me just how many racial remarks were made. Some people were saying things like "those stupid blacks" or "how did I know it was a black guy" or"(blacks) are ruining our community." I just wanted to scream "PEOPLE WAKE UP". It is not the "blacks" that are ruining our community, it is the fact that we are seeing a widening gap between priveledge and poverty and no one seems to care. To a person who lives on the street, can't afford food, doesn't have health care, feels that life is hopeless (you get my point), they will resort to anything to just survive. If you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. If this was your reality, who wouldn't want to go to jail. You are fed 3 meals a day, you get to work out, you get to be outside ( or inside if it's cold), you get a job, and you can get an education. This sounds much more appealing than having to live outside with no heat or food and it is -17 degrees on average. Sorry...that is my little soap box.

So...back to racism. The comments just killed me. Here we are, adopting and African child, who will connect the most with African-Americans and other minority cultures, and we are surrounded by people making these remarks. They aren't strangers. They are people who know us and know our situation. It haunts me to think of our future son/daughter having to hear someone say "those stupid blacks."

I am writing this entry to ask that all of you who are a part of our lives, please look at your own racisms. It is very difficult and very humbling, but it is going to be so important to us in the very near future. We know that we can't protect our future son/daughter for all racism, but we really don't want it coming from the people we know, love, and trust.

I hope this gives everyone some insight as to where we are going as a family. We know racism ins't going to go away, but we would appreciate it if the comments, the hatred, the anger could be put aside if we are around. Love XOXOX Brooke, Ryan and Reese

The Waiting Game

Ok...so I have been informed that I need to provide a little more information about what we do while we wait. We have now been on the waiting list for Ethiopia since November 9. On December 7, we go to have our final set of fingerprints taken, and then we will officially have everything complete. While we wait, Ryan and I are preparing as best as we can. However, it is hard to prepare when we don't know when our referral will come, what sex the child is, how old he/she is, what part of Ethiopia they come from, etc. So for now...we have tried to keep up on transracial adoption issues and basics on Ethiopian culture. Once we have our referral, we have 1 week to decide whether or not we will accept or deny the referral. We will take any information we have on medical history as well as all the pictures to our Pediatrician here in Red Wing and to the International Pediatric Clinic at the U of M. The pediatricians will look all the information over and let us know if they see any huge red flags. If not, then we accept the referral. If they do see some issues, we will have a choice to make. We are hoping that it doesn't come to that, but you never know. Once the referral is accepted, we will be given a travel date. Usually this is anywhere from 4-8 weeks after referral. I hope this is helpful for understading the process. So far, things have been great. Every step has gone very smooth and our agency has been very supportive. If anyone, and I mean anyone, is looking into adopting or knows someone else who is looking into it, I would highly recommend our agency. I will post more as things develop, but for now, we wait and pray.

The final Stretch

We have completed our Dossier (which is our international paperwork) for Ethiopia. Our home study is done and everything is in the hands of our agency at this point. The last thing that we need to do is get fingerprinted by the FBI (scary) so that they can run whatever checks they need to run. After that, we will be waiting. Waiting for whatever child is out there that God is going to bless us with. This is a very good place for us. Neither Ryan or I am very good with paperwork, so it is nice to have a little break for a while. We will be using this time to look into Grants and Fundraising ideas to help with the financial part of adoption. We have grown a lot through this experience, and really had to think about who we are and why we are adopting. We have learned so much about not only adoption but parenting as well. I can honestly say that this has been very different from being pregnant. It doesn't quite feel real yet. To think that we could be bringing another child home in a matter of months just hasn't seeped in all the way. I am sure it will when we get our referral, just like it did when we had our first ultrasound. That first picture really hits home. So....please be praying for us, for the birth mother who is making a birth plan for her child, and for the child who will soon become our child.

The Never Ending Paperwork

Well....we have started to try and piece together the last parts of our paperwork. We have two major documents left to put together. One is called the I-600A, which is our request to the US government to allow us to bring a child in from another country. The second is our Dossier...which is basically everything and anything you would want to know about Ryan and me. We need all police records, health records, birth and marriage certificates, letters of recommendation, bank statements, 401k statements, income statements....nothing is off limits. If anyone is considering adoption, just be prepared for all skeletons to come out of the closet because they want to know everything. We know it will be worth when we bring this child home. We have requested a girl, mostly because we have an entire house of girl stuff from Reese. However, we are open for either a boy or a girl. I may not have too many updates until we get our referral from Ethiopia. The rest of the time will pretty much be a waiting game. Time to research Ethiopia and prepare lifelong change we are embarking on and to try and get the rest of our lives in order before baby #2 arrives. We are always open for questions if people have any. I will try and get some resources posted for those who are interested. Peace.

Home Study

We finally finished our home study. It was ok, but neither of us are big on dishing out our entire life history to a stranger. However, we know it it just part of the process. The agency just wants to make sure that each child is going ot the best home possible. We had to answer a ton of questions about our upbrining, our families, our school experiences, how we were disciplined, how we plan to discipline our children, our strengths and weaknesses as a couple and as a family...you name it, they asked about it. It is nice to have that part behind us. We are heading into the last phase of paperwork, which is all the international stuff so that we can bring the child home with us. Then.....the wait begins. It could be up to a year before we get a referral, but we are praying it won't take that long. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the months ahead. We will need them.