NOOOOOOOO!!!

That is me screaming. I am also crying tears of helplessness and frustration. I know to hang in there, be patient, trust, have faith, but tonight I just want to cry. Scared and a little disheartened tonight. Boo to not-so-good-news-emails.

8 Months

Today is 8 months on the waitlist. I'm not quite as excited as I was last month. I think it's because of the email I read yesterday stating the average wait is now at 9 months. Boo! I shouldn't have convinced myself that December was THE month. It's okay - I know she's close. Patience, patience, patience.

Our Other Little Girl

Back in June, as I was reading my favorite adoption blogs, I came across a post about sponsoring a child from a care point in Ethiopia called Kind Hearts (Children's HopeChest). I immediately emailed a wonderful woman named Karen Wistrom (http://www.family-from-afar.blogspot.com/) and asked to sponsor a child. Her blog is a must read! She, along with 16 others, just visited the care points in Ethiopia and personally delivered care packages that sponsors sent to her for the children. The stories on her blog about the trip will make your heart swell with all kinds of emotions so get your tissues.

Waiting for a picture of a child we were going to be sponsoring was a lot like our waiting for the referral for our daughter! I stalked my email inbox like a crazy woman. And finally one day I see the email caption "Firtuna - Ethiopian Sponsor Child". I seriously screamed in excitement. And then I saw her picture . . .


Look at that sweet little face. She looked so sad to me and I just wanted to scoop her up and tell her how special she is. We have her picture on display in our house and we talk about her everyday as we pray for her. Koen includes her in his prayers and it goes something like this: "and thank you for our two little girls in Eefiopia - my little sister and our other little girl".

Today I received another picture of Firtuna taken as she was holding the pictures of us I sent in her care package. I just love this picture. I want to hug her and smother her with kisses!

There are still children to sponsor so if you feel that tug on your heart like I did please go to Karen's blog. I can't describe how it feels to have this other little girl across the world holding my picture knowing that I care about her. My hope is when we travel to Ethiopia for our daughter we can meet Firtuna in person and I can lay those smooches on her!