Where have we been for the past six months!!! A lot of stuff has happened – some good, some not so good. (but mostly good!) Deacon is bonding well, and it seems like there’s never been a time in our lives when he wasn’t here with us.
When we were in Harar, meeting Deacon for the first time, we met a nine year-old boy who always seemed to be playing with Deacon. (We’ll call him “A”) On our second trip, we visited the Abenezer Orphanage in Addis – another “campus” run by the same woman who operates Abenezer in Harrar. This time, we were visiting to deliver donations and we had Deacon with us. We were thrilled to find that “A” had been moved to Addis, and the two boys spent most of our visits playing in the courtyard together. While we were there, we discussed the possibility of trying to keep the two of them together, long-term.
When we got home, we took a few weeks to let our emotions settle out, and we decided that we did, indeed, feel called to bring “A” home. After we talked with our agency, we began working on the mountain of paperwork – AGAIN! After my brief stay in the hospital, we got our paperwork back on track, and over the past few weeks, we have been waiting on “A”s paperwork to be completed in Ethiopia, and receive official word from our agency. Tuesday, they called to let us know that they were sending us his file!
We sent our acceptance form in today, and we are officially pursuing his adoption! It’s been tough to keep the news quiet, but we wanted to wait until we knew whether or not we would be allowed to pursue him. Currently, we are collecting a few more documents, and waiting for the Dept of Homeland Security to do its thing and set an appointment for us to be (re)fingerprinted – this will get us a critical document that allows us to adopt and bring our child home. Lord willing, we hope to be travelling again this summer!
It’s a little different feeling this time, because we already know him, and have spent time with him – some of the unknown is not there, but we are SO excited to bring our boy home into our family and community!
So the blog has been resurrected, and we are jumping back in with both feet, asking for your prayers as we set out on another difficult but wonderful journey!
Andrew and Lucy
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east, and I will gather you from the west.”
Isaiah 43:5
Congrats, that is exciting news and we will be praying that God will work out all the details so everything goes smoothly.
So awesome. Very excited for you guys!!
Wow, how exciting!!!! Your family is so blessed!!! We cannot wait to meet him! Someone close to Austin’s age in the neighborhood!!!
YEAH!!! So excited to hear it is happening, can’t wait to meet him. I will be praying for your family on this journey.
Hello, Congratulations on your second adoption. I am an adoptive parent with a son from Ethiopia as well. Could you please email me at the above address? I can explain privately why I am contacting you – all positive!