The In Between...

First of all, an update.  We received word from the Embassy in Addis Ababa that they have sent our case back to the USCIS here in the States. That is a good sign and we anticipate final confirmation on our PAIR letter soon.  That will allow us to check one more item off the list before we travel.  After the PAIR letter is recieved, we just wait for our Court Date to be given by the Ethiopian Court system.

When we started this 2nd adoption process, I (Vicki) anticipated it would be so much easier than the first time.  You see, during our first adoption process, I cried a lot (I know, I know - so hard to believe if you really know me).  The anticipation of so many unknowns was hard for me.  I thought that because we already had our referral, the process this time would seem like a piece of cake.  And, I had been doing pretty well until recently.  Now, as we (hopefully) are moving closer to traveling, I'm a little messy sometimes.  I've narrowed it down to two things.....

1) I'm a Momma.  Deep, deep down, through and through.  Having kids on both sides of the world right now is messing with me.  I so much just want to have everyone in one place.  And, as I anticipate traveling and being in Ethiopia for possibly three weeks, my list of "what if's" while I'm gone and away from 5 of my kids is growing longer and my stresses grow.

2) I'm a planner.  Always have been, always will be.  It's a blessing and a curse.  :-)  So, right now we are "In Between".    All our paperwork is done.  There is no busy work.  There is just waiting.  And, in that waiting, there is only so much preparation that can be done for travel, because we just have no idea when we'll travel.   So - there's lots of time that allows a mind to wander.

What do I remember in the "In Between"?  That God is sovereign.  He's in control and all the plans for travel, for all of my kids, finances still needed.....He's got it covered.  He just doesn't have to show me all of His plans yet because He is the God of the Universe.  He's the ultimate Parent and the perfect planner.  He's got this.....even during the "In Between".  

Questions......

First of all, thanks to all of you who came out to support us at our Pancake Breakfast!  We are so grateful and loved seeing so many of you face to face - such a blessing!

We've had plenty of questions lately and thought we'd offer some answers - to the best of our ability.

Where are you in the process?  Currently, there are two things happening.  First, our Dossier, is going to Ethiopia to be translated into the Amharic language and will then go through MOWCYA (Ministry Of Women and Childrens and Youth Affairs) to be studied and approved.  After their approval, we will be submitted to Court and we will be given a court date.  Secondly, we have applied to USCIS (US Center for Immigration Services)  for our PAIR letter.  This is a letter determining whether or not our child is eligible to immigrate to the United States.  We have done all we can for both of these items and must WAIT (not so patiently) to hear about their approvals.

Are you concerned about the current immigration situation?  Will it affect the adoption?  Yes, we are concerned.  Internationally adopted children are considered immigrants, so we are of course, concerned  We do not think it will affect the adoption, but we do not know for sure.  For all sorts of reasons - it could trickle down to at least complicating our paperwork process because of all that seems to be happening at the USCIS.  We pray this will not be the case and pray for all those affected by recent events and decisions.  It is heartbreaking to us.

Why does it take so long?  Why does it cost so much?  This link seems to offer a wonderful explanation - better then we ever could.   http://lifelinechild.org/why-is-international-adoption-so-expensive/

Are you meeting the financial needs for the process?  Slowly.  Surely.  God is GOOD and we trust His provision.

When will you travel?  We have no idea - it all depends on when the Ethiopian Courts give us a Court date.  Sometimes it's hard not to worry about when we'll travel and how that timing with work out.  We would love to travel late Spring/early summer.  This would be ideal - on our calendars.  But, we know it is beyond our control and as time comes closer, we just have to trust God's plan.  We are currently also trying to figure out if we make one trip (probably 3 weeks long) or two trips of one week each.  There are pros and cons for both options....financially, relational, work wise, children wise, etc etc.  We'd greatly appreciate your prayers that we make the best decision for our entire family and your specific prayers that we travel in late May/early June.  :-)

How are ASL classes going?  We're learning.  Slowly.  :-)

Thanks for checking in and for asking questions and being interested.  Pray for our Boy over there - big changes are coming his way and we pray for his, and our preparation.  May He know the love, acceptance and belonging of a Family.  Forever.

Pancakes!

Central Ohio Friends - You're all invited to a Jansen Expansion Pancake Breakfast to help raise funds to bring our boy home!  Come join us THIS Saturday, January 21 from 9-11 a.m. at The Barn at CenterPoint, 620 McCutcheon in Gahanna (not too far from Easton).  We'd love to have you join us!  

Paperwork, Pictures and Prayers

This last week or so has been some great adoption news and also continued concerns in the process.....as always, adoption is a lot of ups and downs.

We recently got some new pictures of our boy and he looks like he is doing well.  We are grateful!  We also received some new documents in regard to him.  These were wonderful to receive but also  made us grieve a bit.....there's so much of his story we don't know and so much we wonder about - and maybe we always will. And, it made us all the more eager to be his family and provide a home for him because for so much of his life he has had neither.  On Christmas Eve our boy will have a birthday and turn 15.....we look forward to having him here and celebrating his 16th birthday with him next year.

We went to get our fingerprints a little over a week ago for our USCIS petition and were told via email that our petition has been approved.....so now we will stalk the mailbox for the official 171-H  :-) This document is needed so that we can send our Dossier to Ethiopia.  The Dossier is ready to go except for that approval form.  We can't wait to send it off.....after finalizing and getting State Seals, final notarization's and other final details taken care of before it leaves our hands.....

We also need to fill out another form for USCIS in order to receive a PAIR letter.  The PAIR letter is necessary for our adoption case to continue.  From what we've heard - this letter can sometimes take a long time and can become a slowdown in the process.  Ugh.  This was something that didn't need to be done in Martha's adoption process so it is totally new to us and causes a little anxiety.

We'd greatly appreciate your prayers in some specific areas right now:

*Paperwork details - the Dossier, the 171-H, the PAIR letter, final translated (into English) documents we still need and all of these eventually relating to our case being submitted to Ethiopian Court. It's a whole lot of paperwork that all needs to come together yet.

*That December 24, 2016 would be the LAST Birthday our boy has without a family!

*There are still some financial details being finalized and we continue to pray for God's provision.  As was the case in our first adoption process (or maybe it's just because it's 5 years later?) we seem to be having car problems beyond belief!  3 out of 4 cars seems to need something or other currently. The joke around the house is that we must be adopting again and God is making sure we keep trusting Him by giving us car troubles.  We're trying to laugh it off.....trying  :-)

*Timing - we are trying to not get caught up in our timeline or the timeline of the school year or Dave's Church responsibilities.  We are reminding ourselves that God made the timing absolutely perfect for our whole family when we brought Martha home and we know He will do that again.  (But sometimes we forget it's His time and not ours).  Please also pray for our Bio kids....they dream of going to Ethiopia and each have a strong desire to see that beautiful Country of their Ethiopian siblings.  We wish that were to be possible, but it won't be.  Please pray that sometime their desire would turn into reality....thanks!

*Dave & Vicki start American Sign Language classes in January....pray that we are good learners.

Thank you for your prayers and support......we are grateful for each of you who stop and ask how things are going or those who say they've said a prayer, etc.  It makes such a difference to us!  We wish you all the best Christmas Celebration - so thankful for the little baby born so long ago - who came to save us and adopt us into God's family.  O Come Let Us adore Him!

Where we're at......

Many have asked lately for an update.....

If you're familiar with International Adoption, you'll know that it's a lot of "Hurry up and Wait".  And, we are at that stage again.  We recently had our Home Study completed and approved.  And, just this past week, we sent off our I600 (I think it had 14 pages) to the USCIS (United States Center for Immigration Services).  The I600 is a Petition to Classify an Orphan as an immediate relative.  Part of this process involves getting our Fingerprints done on the Federal level.....but we must wait until the USCIS grants us that appointment and then we can get approval for our I600.  We'd appreciate your prayers that our Fingerprint appointment would be set up soon and that this whole paperwork process would continue in an extra timely fashion.  

We are working a bit on our ASL (American Sign Language) and will begin taking a class in January.  It's a slow progress, but we are making some steps forward.  Please pray that the ASL we are learning and the ASL that our son knows will have more in common than not in common.  As in any language, there are many dialects to ASL.

Later this week, our Social Worker will be traveling to Ethiopia to do some face to face work for a few of her cases.  She will be ironing out some details in our case in the area of finances.  There is a lot of background to our upcoming adoption involving different agencies and a lot of history (much too complicated to explain here.....).  Would you please pray for her trip to be productive on all levels and that our case and others (who have been stuck for a while) would make great strides in bringing Children home?

Another part of her trip will be telling our Son that he HAS a family!  She will be taking a few things from us to give him - and that small package will include a letter and a picture of our Family.  Please pray for him as he receives this package and news.  We have been told by other adoptive families that he is eager for a family and has been waiting for a very, very long time.  Please pray for excitement at this long awaited answer - but also peace as it means MAJOR life change for him and probably a lot of anxiety and fears.

Finally - continue to pray for Ethiopia.  In addition to major political upheaval lately, there is also a lot of insecurity in other areas.  Our recent Ethiopia update from Compassion states that 10.2 million Ethiopians urgently need food assistance; 6 million children are currently at risk of hunger, disease and lack of water because of the recent drought and 458,000 children are expected to be treated for severe malnutrition in 2016, up from the usual 250,000 annually.  It is a Country that needs help and prayers......and as you go about your Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping, eating and celebrating.....please remember how blessed we are in this Country.  If you have that one person on your list that you never know what to buy for - please consider this:  https://www.compassion.com/charitable-gift-catalog.htm

Thanks for your continued prayers - Thanks Be to God for His Gifts!

Fervent Prayers Needed ~

Friends -

While we are progressing quite well Stateside on our Paperwork for this Adoption Process, we have deep concerns for those we love across the world.  Would you please pray for this beautiful Country that we love and for its people?  Unfortunately, you probably won't see this in your local newscast, but it is real and true and those in Ethiopia matter to God and to us - please, please pray for them.  Our hearts are heavy with concern today~

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ethiopia-declares-state-of-emergency/

http://addisfortune.net/articles/breaking-news-the-federal-government-has-declared-a-state-of-emergency/

Thank you~

The Adventure Continues

God is amazing isn't He?  Here we are back at the Jansen Expansion Blog.....

As many of you know, Martha's adoption and our trips to Ethiopia changed us significantly.  They opened our eyes and hearts more than we ever thought they would.  So much so, that after completing the adoption process the first time, we always said to God that if he ever wanted us to do it again, we would be open to His call, but He would have to provide the financial resources and make it abundantly clear that it was what He was calling us to do.

Well, God has done just that!  And we are excited to share that we are going to be adopting again!  Through a series of circumstances and people, God HAS made it abundantly clear that we need to proceed in the pursuit of the adoption of a 14 year old young man, who is hearing impaired, from Ethiopia.   If we didn't proceed at this point, we feel it would be being disobedient to what God has asked us to do.  And, we know that living in God's will and plan is the absolute best place to be!  We ask for your prayers as we join God on this God-sized adventure!  Pray for all the necessary steps that need to happen and pray for our family and this young man as we prepare to do life as a family.

We are currently starting our Home Study, which will involve checking into almost every nook and cranny of our lives......  :-)  and then we will proceed with next steps.  Our hope and prayer is that this young man will be home with us by December of 2017.  We know that sounds like a long time from now, but in the international adoption world, that is a pretty short timetable.  We need him to be home by then, because otherwise he will turn 16 and will not be able to get him a Visa to come to the US.  And, added to that......he will probably be released from the Orphanage when he turns 16 and have to live on his own.

One of the ways that God clarified this to us, is through a couple of very special people who came to us, feeling that they were called to fund about 2/3's of this adoption.  When that happened, we knew God was up to something!  We are eternally thankful to people who respond to God's call to help children be in a family in whichever way God has equipped them to do so.  We also had wonderful friends that asked us if they could start a GoFundMe page to help cover some of the other costs....travel expenses for two trips to Ethiopia, miscellaneous paperwork costs (there are many), shots for travel, the Home Study, Sign Language Classes and more.  If you feel led to help a child come home to their family by donating through that, here is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/jansenadopt

More than anything - we ask for your prayers.  God is on the move and we are thrilled to be a part of His plan!