Blog
News, News, News
4/26/2012
You may be thinking that we received news that our paperwork was submitted to court. NOPE!! We did hear news about our children. We sent a care package over with a lady named “Dawn” from Indiana who was heading to court to adopt her fourth child. Yes, FOURTH!! It is not that uncommon for families to adopt more than one. But let me reassure you, we are sticking to three!!
Dawn visited the care center where our children were staying and spent hours of loving time with them. We are so blessed for the quality time she spent with them as well as information and insight that she has provided. She shared with us that the girls stick together like glue and are very happy. They are good eaters too!! “A” and “G” know their ABC’s and can count to ten. Prior to being in the care center, our girls had no formal education. “A” and “G” also imitated many words spoken by Dawn.
Our one year old boy “T” is in the infant room. She spent a little time with him but mostly with the girls. He is drinking from a cup by himself and enjoys spending time with his nannies. Pray for him, he had some difficulties with new people. We have been fortunate to obtain pictures of our kiddos through other adoptive families that have traveled to court. It’s exciting to see our children connecting and making friendships and their happy faces. :)
Meredith
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Next STEPS
3/8/2012
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!! Our extensive dossier that was completed after the home study process is currently being translated into the Amharic language in Ethiopia. Our adoption agency indicated that it will take at least eight weeks for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) to review the document.
After the court reviews it, we receive a court date and travel approximately a month later. It will probably be June or July before we travel for court (one of two required trips).
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The Next Courageous Step.....
3/5/2012
WE ARE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE ACCEPTED THE REFERRAL FOR “A”, “G”, “T”. WE ARE SOON TO BE A FAMILY OF SIX. In case you are wondering, Jim’s daughter Kathryn who is 23 was included for a total of six!
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It Came So Soon!!
2/28/2012
Jim and I had just completed and sent in our dossier. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the adoption process, a dossier is a LENGTHY document that includes our home study and other information that the Ethiopian government requires for us to adopt from their country. When we asked our adoption worker how long it would take for a referral, she said “anytime”. After investigating other adoption families’ timelines, it appeared that it would be May or June before we would receive a referral. I was WRONG!!!
On February 28, 2012, we received an e-mail asking whether we would be open to twin girls that were six years old. In addition, they had a younger brother that was one. We told the agency that we would like additional information about the children. The next morning the pictures came.
I knew these children were to be in our family immediately. They had recently been placed in care as a result of their mother passing away. Their father was unable to care for them. As you can imagine, there was a lot to think about.
The first day was surreal and by that night my head was spinning. Jim was tired from not sleeping the night before. The next day, he was stuck on “3” and said it many times…..THREE, THREE, THREE Meredith, “you can’t take them back” was his words. I think that’s what he heard the entire day from everyone he shared the news with. It took a bit of time for him to process it. But finally decided he was at peace with moving forward even though we still have lots to sort through. And what’s really neat is that I love the children in my heart already. I wasn’t sure if that would happen so immediately. My prayer for our children would be that they would know God’s grace in a deep personal way.
Meredith
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Grafted Into God's Family
2/16/2012
Part of the way through the home study process, I realized how much our adoption process is very similar to how God grafts us into his family. HE takes the unnatural, the helpless, the lonely, the hopeless and through HIS strength grafts them into HIS olive tree……HIS family. He accepts and embraces us into his family just as he would his “natural” descendants. Many times, if I were honest, I’ve tried taking my own path and have tried to do it on my own. It always works much better when I follow HIS lead.
Psalm 27:11-“Teach me your way, O Lord, lead me in a straight path.”
Meredith
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One, Two, or MORE
2/3/2012
When Jim and I set out on this adoption process, we had discussed adopting “A” infant. The key word to remember is ”one”. We both were open to either gender. Throughout the course of our home study, we had discussed the possibility of two children. Then came the day when we would need to decide the number of children that we would like to adopt.
My husband Jim felt comfortable with one. I was leaning more towards one because I felt that the children would have a friend and someone that was the similar. At work, a co-worker provided the qualitative words of “my children would not be the same without each other” that won me over to two children. That same day, a little girl that I see for speech therapy had a younger brother that was away for the week. Without me saying anything, she said “it’s just not the same without my brother here, when he gets home, I’m going to kiss and hug him”. God spoke to my heart through these events that day.
Jim and I discussed it that night, and he was still not at two. But with some time to think about it, he was in agreement by the next day. This was typically the case through the adoption. After much prayer, and discussion with friends, we decided upon two children under the age of 5 and gave the information to the adoption agency. We asked the adoption agency what the expected time for the referral would be. She said “anytime”. In reality, I thought it would be May or June before we received a referral. I had been checking the e-mail group, and I when I compared our situation to the others, it appeared that would be the timeline. We would soon find out that the referral came sooner than expected!!
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Immigration
1/4/2012
Just as God’s fingerprints have been our lives and grown and molded us more like Him, it wouldn’t be an adoption without fingerprints taken. And that is what we did. Early in the morning on January 4, 2012, Jim and I headed down to the Immigration and Naturalization building in downtown Milwaukee.
Meredith
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Birth Certificates
12/21/2011
The birth certificates for our kids have been processed! They have grown so much since the initial pictures were taken. It was really neat to to see their new last name as Libbey. In the Ethiopian culture, children are given their father's first name as their middle name. Jim and are planning to give the children first names of "Rebecca", "Hannah", and "Solomon" when we re-adopt in the United States. They will continue to use their current names of "Alganesh", "Goteytom", and "Teame" as their middle and "home" names.
Meredith :)
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