Adoption | Picker Point

Adoption

June5th

Today . . .

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Home Life & Family

Yesterday, there were 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, but TODAY THERE IS ONE LESS!

We passed court!

And now Josiah has a mommy, and a daddy, and a big brother, and four grandparents, and six aunts and uncles, and three first-cousins, and seven great-grandparents, and 20 great-aunts and uncles, and more second- and third-cousins than I can count, and hundreds and hundreds of friends waiting to love him! Yesterday he was an orphan, but TODAY HE HAS A FAMILY!

And yesterday we were a family of three, but today we are a family of FOUR! Yesterday we had one son, and today we have TWO!

Praise God!! We are so thankful! We are overwhelmed by His goodness and mercy and faithfulness to us! Thank you for your prayers!

We are still waiting for our travel dates, but we will be leaving in the next few weeks to bring our son home!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” John 14:18
June4th

Please Pray Tonight

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption

Our court case in Ethiopia will be heard tonight while we sleep. We’re anxious to know the outcome, but we know that God is in control and that He is, and has been, and always will be, faithful to us. So now we wait, and pray. We’re praying all day, and some friends are coming over to pray with us tonight.

Right now I’m reminding myself of Daniel and Esther and all the others who found favor in foreign courts because of God’s faithfulness. And I’m clinging to Proverbs 21:1, which says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” And I’m thinking of my sweet sister, Mihaela, whose adoption case was denied and closed before it was miraculously reopened and approved. And I’m comforted to know that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:17).

We’ve been so blessed by those of you who have joined us in prayer throughout this process. I got a note from a sweet friend last week that said, “I’m praying that the God of electricity, paperwork, sick judges, amazing garage sales, and ALL other things will be present to REpresent you and that there will be no hindrances to getting this little boy in your arms VERY soon!”

Please join us in echoing this prayer tonight. We may not hear our outcome until next week, but we will let you know as soon as we hear.
May29th

Court Date!!!

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption

We just got incredible news that our court date in Ethiopia will be JUNE 5!! That’s a week from today. Since Ethiopia is eight hours ahead of us, they will probably be hearing the case while we sleep, very early on Friday morning.

Would you please be praying for us, our little boy, those who will represent us in court, and the judge who will be hearing our case? If we pass next Friday we could be traveling to Ethiopia in the next several weeks! There’s a chance that we won’t pass the first time, and our court date will have to be rescheduled, which could delay the process for several weeks. There are many reasons that we could not pass: a sick judge, the paperwork isn’t in the right order, the electricity goes out, etc. Please be praying that we will find favor with those who are handling our case and that we will pass.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for little Josiah!
May21st

A Mother for Choco

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Spiritual

Tonight, Casey and I attended a prayer meeting at our church. We gathered with several other families who have hearts for foster care and adoption to pray for children who need families. This was such a powerful time of prayer for us. Casey and I ended up in a group with a couple who has adopted a son from Nicaragua. We were so blessed to have them pray with us and for us. We have been surrounded by so many encouraging, supportive friends throughout this process, but there is nothing like being lifted up in prayer by people who have stood where we are standing. As we prayed, my friend Krissi reminded me in prayer that from the moment of his conception, Josiah has been intended for our family. What a great reminder that we were created to be his parents and he was created to be our son!

Throughout the evening I heard Josiah’s name whispered in prayer several times across the room. What an incredible blessing to have friends that are praying for our son and eagerly waiting to celebrate his arrival with us! It was such an encouraging evening, especially considering where I’ve been emotionally this week as we continue to wait.

As we prayed I felt God burdening our hearts with the 140 million children in the world who need a family to call their own. There are nearly 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, and over 3,000 children in foster care just in our state. The numbers are daunting, and overwhelming, but I feel God calling His Church to meet this need, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Coincidentally, when Caleb and I went to the library this morning, we checked out the book A Mother for Choco, a story about a baby bird who needs a mommy and the mother bear who becomes his mother. I read the story to Caleb before he went to bed. Later, after he was in bed, I heard him crying in his bedroom. It seemed like a sad, hurt cry, and I was afraid that he had hurt himself so I went in to check on him. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, “Choco needs a mommy.”

It breaks my heart to watch my little son come to understand just one piece of the terrible sadness in this world, but I want him to know, I want his heart to break over the things that break God’s heart. I don’t want him to grow up thinking that every child has a life just like his. We prayed just tonight that the kids in our church would have tender hearts for the fatherless, and I’m already seeing God’s faithfulness in the compassion of my small son.

Of course, I immediately wrapped him up in my arms and assured him that he has a mommy and that Choco found a mommy. And then we prayed for all of the children who need a mommy. We lifted up the fatherless to our great Father who knows each one of them by name. Caleb is sleeping peacefully now; he may never mention it again, or we may talk about it every day. But I am so convicted by the heart of a little three year old who understands how desperately he needs his mommy and how sad it must be not to have one. And I can’t help but wonder how many three year olds went to sleep tonight with no mommy to comfort them. Oh that God would break our hard hearts over the things that break His heart!
May20th

What I’m Trying To Do . . .

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Spiritual

So tonight I realized that I am only left with two options right now. The time for being calm and cool, perhaps even distracted, while we wait to hear when our court date will be for our precious little Josiah is long gone. I realized tonight that I can either absolutely lose my mind worrying and obsessing and continue checking my e-mail every three minutes for the next several weeks or I have got to “BE STILL” and “WAIT PATIENTLY for HIM.” I know that right now we are not waiting on bureaucrats in Ethiopia or case workers in Oregon; we are waiting on God’s perfect timing. And on that perfect, precise moment that He ordained before the beginning of time our precious son WILL BE in our arms!
April30th

No News

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption

No news on baby Josiah yet (by the way, that’s what we’ve named him, Josiah means “God will save”). We’re still waiting to hear when our court date will be.

In the meantime, Josiah should be getting a little treat in the mail someday soon. We sent him a picture book with pictures of the special people who are waiting to love him. Hopefully, the picture book will help us to look a little bit familiar to him when we show up to take him home. If nothing else, he will get to hold something that his mommy made for him. I tried to print the Amharic words for Mommy and Daddy, etc., under the English words; I hope I got it right.

This weekend my sweet momma is at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit in Dallas. I’m kind of jealous. Wish I could have gone too. I can’t wait to hear all of the things that she learns. She’s promised to try to meet up with some Ethiopia adoption people while she’s there.

Here at the Picker house, we are gearing up for our second big adoption garage sale next weekend. We have had so many wonderful friends and family donate stuff for our sale. Right now my garage is so full, I can barely walk through it. Last week when we went to visit some of Casey’s family, we had to rent a U-haul trailer to bring home all of the stuff they gave us.

We are so thankful for all of you! We couldn’t make it through this process without your prayers and support. Thank you!!!
April7th

REFERRAL!!!

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Home Life & Family

We are overwhelmed, blessed, and absolutely overjoyed to announce that we have received our referral! Monday evening, I got a call from Holt telling us that they had a baby boy waiting for us. He is 2 1/2 months old and itty bitty, but absolutely precious! My arms are already aching for him!

I got the call Monday evening at 5:30 that our agency would be e-mailing us his pictures and information to review. Sure enough, the e-mail popped right up on my account. Then I had to wait an excruciating fifteen minutes for Casey to get home so we could see the pictures of our son together.

I think we were both in disbelief for several hours. We weren’t expecting a referral until May or June at the earliest. After our agency had told us many times to expect a 6-9 month wait for an infant, I can’t believe we got our referral in a little over four months! We are praising God for his wonderful faithfulness and perfect timing!

We are still working on a name for our baby boy because we thought that we still had a few months to think about it. We will use part of his Ethiopian name as his middle name, but we want to give him a new first name. We’ll let you know as soon as we decide.

So what’s next? Now we will wait for our court date, which will hopefully be assigned in the next few weeks. Usually the court dates are scheduled 2-3 months in advance, so we are hoping for a June court date. If we pass court the first time, we will be able to pick up our son three or four weeks after the court date. If not, we will have to wait for a second court date. So please pray for an early court date and that we will pass the first time.

Unfortunately, we can’t post pictures of our little guy on the internet until he is legally our son. But here is a video of Caleb sharing the good news with Daddy.

And here is a picture of Caleb seeing his baby brother for the first time. And Roger and Abby, if you’re reading this, I just happened to be wearing my 7,990 shirt that day.

Thank you so much, all of our dear family and friends, for your prayers and support over the last several months. Please continue to pray for our little guy; we know God is answering our prayers!
April1st

Four

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption

This week marks the end of our fourth month of waiting for a referral. Here’s to hoping we are more than half way there. The good news is that in mid-February we were #18 on the waiting list, and I found out today that we are now #9!! There’s no way to tell how quickly the next referrals could come in, but we are hoping to have one maybe in June or July.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our little guy. We can’t wait to see his face!
February24th

From Ashes to Africa

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption, Literature

Yesterday I got my copy of From Ashes to Africa in the mail. I read it in three hours yesterday evening and then begged Casey to start reading it so we could talk about it.

I wish that I could say that Josh and Amy Bottomly were my own very good friends. I’ve been following their blog for several months and we’ve exchanged a few e-mails about the Ethiopian orphanage sponsorship, but I have never met them. After reading their book, however, I feel like we could be good friends. We seem to have a lot in common, like Casey’s childhood infatuation with Michael Jordan and my time as a high school English teacher.

From Ashes to Africa is the story of Josh and Amy’s journey to adoption in Ethiopia. It is an incredible story of transformation and hope. Josh and Amy speak openly and honestly about struggles in their marriage and faith and also about God’s redemption of their “ashes.” And the beautiful treat at the end is the account of their first moments with their son, Silas.

Even though our journeys have been a bit different, I identified with so much of what Josh and Amy shared. I understood their path from a spark of interest in Ethiopia to a burning passion to reach out to the people there.

I also appreciated their struggle to communicate their excitement about their adoption with others. We have also had some interesting reactions to our adoption news. Like Amy, I have had people “encourage” me by telling me that maybe one day I will be pregnant again. It baffles me every time. When I was pregnant with Caleb, no one felt the need to encourage me that I would have other children. Right now, my heart is pregnant with my little Ethiopian boy, and, until he is in my arms, I want no other. He is not a second choice, consolation prize; he is the desire of my heart.

I am so thankful that Josh and Amy have shared their story, and I encourage everyone who is interested in adoption or Ethiopia, or just loves a good story to take the time to read it. At the very least, you should visit their blog so you can see pictures of their beautiful little Silas.

Just a quick update on our own adoption journey: This week marks the end of our third month of waiting, and last week I found out that we are #18 on the waiting list. We’re still hoping for a referral this summer.
January15th

Adoption Update

Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Adoption

Just an update for those of you who are tracking our adoption process:

November 2 – Home Study

November 23 – Picked up Home Study Report from Social Worker

November 25 – Fedexed Dossier to Holt

Early December – Officially on Ethiopia Waiting List

December 5 – Fingerprinting with USCIS/Filed I-600A

December 12 – Received I-171H (I-600A approval) (I think one week is probably record time for this; it is one of the only things that has actually gone more quickly than I expected.)

Today, January 15, I received word that our Dossier has been authenticated and has been received in Ethiopia.

We’ve now been on the waiting list for about a month and a half; we’ve requested a baby boy, under 12 months old. We are really hoping to have a referral sometime this summer. There are so many variables that it is impossible to guess when we will finally be able to travel to Ethiopia to get our baby boy. Right now I am praying that he will be in our arms by Christmas but trusting that God’s timing is perfect in every situation. Would you please be praying for us and our little boy? It is so hard to have this indefinite wait ahead of us that is completely out of our control.

I’ve just been reading in Daniel 4 that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.” What a comfort to know that He is the One in control, both here and in Ethiopia!