July 26, 2011

Ordinary Hero (button to the right) is a company whose goal is to provide a way for every person to make a difference in the life of a child in need, through adoption, missions, or local outreach.  They also strive to bring public awareness to the orphan crisis.  They sell clothing, jewelry, coffee mugs, etc to raise funds to support their goals. 

We have become an affiliate with the company.  They are allowing us to raise funds for our adoption by giving us 40% of the sale of any item that is purchased in our name.  They will send a check to our adoption agency to put towards our adoption.  We feel very grateful that there is such a company to help us meet our goal.
Check out the site and if you decide to purchase anything, please click on Deena Maley under the affiliate drop down list.

Thanks for checkin' in!
DMM

July 25, 2011

When?  That is the hardest question to answer.  I have asked it many times myself, but the truth is, nobody knows until it happens.  A child has to be placed in an orphanage and found "adoptable" before the orphanage can notify our agency.  The agency is given a list of children who are available for adoption, in the form of a referral, and then the agency goes down their waiting parent list.  There is no predictable timeline that any of these steps happen.  So we wait!  We are currently number 53.  That number doesn't mean much though because different families are waiting for different ages, sex, special needs, etc.


We are trying to make the best use of our wait time by reading lots of books about Ethiopia and parenting adopted children.  MTM and I also went to get our immunizations last Friday.  3 in each arm!  Charged us $450 each for them.  That is like an extra shot in the arm.  Just doesn't seem right, does it?    Good news is we are armed against all diseases known to mankind.  JK!  
I hope it won't be long before I have exciting things to tell! 
Until then,
DMM

07/10/2011

What Dad thinks:

Wow!  After all the past several months of document gathering & submission, this is really starting to seem real!  Good Stuff!   It's been great to have the boys stay engaged over the past several months and we are now feeling like our new addition is almost here!

July 7, 2011 Big Day!

July 7th this year will be a big day for a couple of reasons,  I turned 40, but more importantly we became an official "waiting family".   What a great birthday present.  I really didn't expect this part of the process to be completed so quickly.  I can't believe I am saying that.  We were told to expect it to take a couple of weeks.  What this means is that at any time now we could get a "referral" from our adoption agency.  A referral is medical and historical information and a picture of a child that matches with our family profile.  If we accept the referral then we will prepare for the trip to Ethiopia to adopt that child. YEAH!

Thanks for checkin' in!
DMM