Ethiopia or Bust!

In honor of Spring Break which begins tomorrow as soon as the school bell rings, our dossier is Ethiopia bound! How exciting! I am grateful to CCI, our adoption agency, for catching and correcting a couple of minor details before it headed out the door. We are also looking forward to our spring break! Can't wait to see my family and have a week of no activities for the McKibben's!

Jumping Hurdles

Our dossier will be fed ex-ed tomorrow to Washington DC, where a courier will take it to the Dept. of State and then to the Ethiopian Embassy. From there, it goes to our adoption agency and then to Ethiopia. Please pray for everything to go smoothly and get into exactly the right hands. We are trying to beat a possible deadline which will prevent us from having to travel twice.

We also received our appointment to go get our fingerprinting done in Louisville.

I feel like these are two big hurdles that we are jumping. I know there will be others, but we are moving forward in the race!


Speaking of hurdles, I am going to jump one right now. This is hard for me to bring up, because it is hard for me to ask for help sometimes. But you see, help is what we need to bring Kami home, and I will give God the glory for every bit of help we get, because all this is through HIM and by HIM and for HIM! So I will swallow my pride and just put it out there. I pray that He is evident in all of this, and that you can understand why we are adopting--to share HIS love and walk in obedience to what HE has called us to. I think I know why HE called us to this even though our bank account says we can't afford it. He did this so that I can take no credit for this plan, and so that the GLORY of GOD will be revealed. He has filled our cup to overflowing. We have a beautiful home, a great support system, amazing family, and so much love to share. He created me to nurture and mother, and this is a way for me to walk in fulfillment, using the gifts He has given me. John is such a great dad, and God sees that his gentle ways and providing spirit are perfect for Kami, and Collin, and Mallory (who will be amazing siblings for Kami).

God blows me away! I love HIM!!!! Everytime I am feeling doubtful about this whole process, HE is so sweet to send something special my way. My 'special somethings' HE has been sending me lately include some awesome (and I mean awesome)gestures from friends. I am so blessed by my friends and how they are supporting us! Everyone is quick to oooh and ahhh over my sweet pic of Kami I carry around! My busy friends have taken time from their schedules to write us letters of recommendation. Several are planning to host parties for us or donate proceeds to us. I could go on and on! I am just plain blown away by their generosity and compassion.

You have to check this out: sweetms.wordpress.com. One of my dear friends, who is also an adoptive parent, is spending countless hours creating and sewing adorable bibs, burpcloths, and clothes. She is selling these goodies on her website and donating to our adoption fund! Now that is selfless.

Another group of my friends are hosting a Mother/Daughter/Women's Tea on April 24. Mark your calendars now. This will be no small undertaking, and it will probably prove to be stiff competition for Martha Stewart. The menu looks fabulous! These neighborhood gals are sacrificing their dollars and time to pull this off! To beat it all, one of them is opening her home for this event. Now that is hospitality. I hope you will all consider coming and bringing your mom or daughter or even "adopting" one for the day.

I am thankful to my friends. I am thankful to my family. I am thankful that God calls me His child. I am thankful that God adopted me into His family. I will end today with words from John 14:18-- "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you."

Scarlett Fever and Ethiopia

I am at home today with Collin, who has scarlett fever. Sounds scary, hu? He has had two doses of antibiotics and seems to feel better already. The doctor said he could return to school tomorrow. The only memories I have of scarlett fever are from Little House on the Prairie. My memory could be failing me, but I think Mary lost her eyesight after scarlett fever. Thank the Lord for modern medicine and antibiotics. It seems all Collin will lose is one day of school!

On the adoption front, it has been a busy week. Ethiopia has changed it's rules, and families have to travel twice now. We are trying to beat the deadline and avoid this. Our agency is working so hard to help families beat this deadline too. What a job!!! I thought I was overwhelmed.

We managed to gather most of our dossier papers, get all notarized, get them authenticated, and then to get a seal from the secretary of state. Our homestudy has been completed also. If I understand everything correctly, I am waiting on two letters from our adoption agency, then we will have everything we need to complete our dossier. After that, we get a courier to take the dossier to Washington. Finally, the dossier will head to Ethiopia.

We covet your prayers for Collin's quick healing, for Kami's overall well-being, and for all papers to move quickly and effortlessly through this process.

Collin is wondering why I am writing about scarlett fever, and he informed me that i need to change the title to scarlett fever and ethiopia. Done. Thanks, boy child!

Where do I begin?

It is difficult to know where to start...I think the adoption seed was planted in me over ten years ago. We suffered a miscarriage with our first pregnancy, and they found that I had fibroid tumors. This is usually not a huge deal, but I was young and naive, and wondered if I would ever be able to carry a pregnancy to term. We attended an informational adoption meeting at our local library. The seed was planted. Soon after this, I was pregnant with Mallory. Three years later, I was pregnant with Collin. Our lives were full and busy, and our adoption questions ended as quickly as they had begun; however, my eyes were opened to a need. My heart and emotions were stirred.

Fast forward a few years. Our lives intersect with the lives of several families who are adopting. We become close friends with these families, sharing life with them through church, small groups, and Bible study. My heart stirs again... I begin to talk these things over with God. I receive no direct answers. There is no writing in the sky. The stirring increases in me... I keep praying and even begin pushing the subject a little with John. Finally, I decide that I will know it is God's will if He places the same desire in each of our hearts. I stop pushing the subject with John. I assume I have my answer.

A little more fast forwarding...I am on the computer one night, and I receive an instant message from my friend. "Do you want to go to Ethiopia with me to pick up the girls?" My answer, "Sure." Then, "Are you serious? How long would we be gone?" I ask John what he thinks. He immediately and unselfishly says, "Sure." One short instant messaging session and God moves in His mysterious way, in His perfect time. I felt I had received a sweet gift from God. I felt this was His way of letting me experience adoption.

Fast forward a few months...I am standing in a transition house in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, staring at a beautiful, chubby faced little girl with the darkest skin I have ever seen. I was compelled to touch her, to hold her, to elicit a smile from her somber face. These were my only thoughts. After all, we were at a transition house, where children are waiting for their adoptive parents. After all, God had provided my answer by allowing me to travel with my friend.

Upon my return,I shared everything with my husband about the beauty of Ethiopia, the poverty of the city, and the sweetness of the children. I tried to adequately capture all that I had seen and experienced. Then the unthinkable took place, my dear sweet magnificent husband said that we could begin looking into adoption!!!!!

Another instant message from my dear friend, "Guess who was just put on the waiting list?" The beautiful, chubby faced, somber little one that I had been so attracted to was indeed on the waiting list. I contacted the adoption agency and spoke with the director. Understandably, we were told that they needed a paper ready family. We began the application process, gathering documents, filling out forms, and getting references.

A few weeks and many forms later, she was put on hold for us!!! There is no person who could orchestrate such a huge thing and get all the details right...ONLY GOD could put together this masterpiece!!!

And so, this is where we are...we can't wait to see how it all unfolds!