Paying it Forward with Dogsitting

Two weeks ago my parents spent five days in Phoenix, AZ for my cousin Kelsey's wedding. Since my sisters and I had just gotten them a dog for Easter, they were in need of a dog sitter for the time that they would be away. And since we anticipate needing a sitter from time to time in the very near future, we thought we'd pay it forward and get one up on them while we could.

And that is how Shadow came to stay with Eric and I for several days. I don't think we knew how "needy" animals could be and are. Shadow, like any other dog, needed walked first thing in the morning and just before going to bed. She needed to be exercised, fed and watered more often than our 8 to 9 hour workday normally allowed, so Eric would travel home over his lunch hour to take her out and feed her. She also needed lots of playtime and attention. This forced us to take time to relax with her. I took lots of walks through the neighborhood. I quickly learned how many dogs our neighborhood had! They all wanted to take their turn barking at the new passersby. But Shadow wasn't a big barker, thank goodness. She was more of a sniffer and if any noise came out of her it was more of a whine.

Well, as the time came for Shadow to go home, I was surprised at how much her presence was missed. When we went to my parents this past weekend for Memorial Day, we were pleasantly surprised by her exuberant welcome. She had remembered us!

So maybe we aren't ready for a dog, but I think we are definitely ready to care for and love on something beyond ourselves (and beyond tropical angel fish). And ready or not our lives are about to expand by two precious little ones. Can't wait!!

Two will be more than a blessing!

We have been keeping a secret for the past several months. If you could see me you’d know the secret pretty quickly. Eric and I are expecting a second child, a birth child, on November 9th. Well, at least we are pretty sure it will be our younger child. We are definitely continuing with our adoption, and the two could be anywhere from 18 months to 1 month apart. So life could get pretty interesting. But we are confident and give testimony that this is God’s planning and handiwork and not our own. We desire his blessing for our family and willingly (and very excitedly) embrace his perfect and pleasing plans for this family.

We would, of course, appreciate your prayers as we plan and prepare to become parents to not only one, but two young children, over the course of this next year. Also, any advice would be welcomed as well. J

Many that I’ve spoken with face to face have asked:
Have I experienced morning sickness? Well, I did for about 5 to 6 weeks. I had a terrible taste in my mouth that made me want to brush my teeth constantly, and smells drove me crazy. I didn’t enjoy packing lunches in the morning. I often would try to eat something first, and worked to make it go as quickly as possible. It will probably be a while until I eat beef stroganoff again or have a desire to make meat loaf, but over all, (looking back) it wasn’t a terrible experience for me. However, I was relieved when the nausea greatly diminished soon after the 11th week.

Will I continue working? Well, that is a tricky question and depends on the timing of our referral. I do plan to start the year and to take off for some maternity leave after baby #2 is born. But it will depend on the progress of our adoption as to whether or not I return or just continue to stay home. So I could end up returning to the classroom to finish the year if we don’t receive a referral until Jan. or later, simply because we would not likely travel much before the end of school. But, like I said, it is all up in the air. I am very blessed by my employers willingness to be flexible with the unknown.

How have you been “feeling”? I know this question is usually asking about how the pregnancy is progressing. So far we have had three visits to the doctor’s office and had two ultrasounds and everything seems to be going great. I must admit that this does not mean that I am worry free, but very optimistic about this pregnancy ending successfully. We’ll see what week 18’s apt. brings in a few short weeks.

International vs Domestic Adoption

One question that we often answer when sharing about our adoption is: Why did you choose to adopt internationally versus domestically?

Well, it isn't a quick and easy answer to give . . . but to sum it up here are a few of our reasons for choosing international adoption. First, both of us have overseas experience as missionaries. Eric spent six months in Kenya in 1999, one month in Mexico in 2000, and 1-year in Cambodia in 2003-2004. He also traveled to Guatemala for work projects in 2001. April traveled to Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 for a two-week trip, and spent four months in Singapore and four months in Macau, China in 2002, and also spent a few weeks in Hong-Kong, Indonesia and China while in the "area." Due to our cross-cultural experiences, we value the richness that other nations and people bring to our lives.

In both of our experiences, we were touched by the children. They were so easy to befriend, lovable and adorable. Most of April's missions experiences involved working with children's ministries and outreaches.

Having also spent time outside of the US and seeing first hand how blessed and fortunate we (as Americans) are - even our orphans, which are placed into foster homes instead of orphanages - has had an impact on our decision to adopt cross-culturally.

But mostly our decision lies in the fact that we feel God has called us to Ethiopia and to adopt internationally. We trust Him with the decisions that involve our lives and our family.

The pictures come from Eric's time in Cambodia. We "email" dated that entire year and this is one of the pictures he sent me. He made friends with two dear little girls while he was there that still have a special place in his heart.

Spring is HERE!

Finally the grass is turning green and the flowers are blooming. (The pictures are from the magnolia tree in our front yard.) I love this time of year, before it becomes hot and sticky and the bugs arrive. It is a joy to be outside enjoying the crisp fresh air and comfortable temps. The sun seems so intense and bright and the sky so blue. Thank you, LORD, for spring and the changing of seasons.

As the seasons change, we also tick off one more month of waiting. April 23rd will end our third month and begin the fourth month in this time of "anticipation." So far the patience in the wait has been very tolerable, but that is probably due to the fact that we KNOW in advance that the end is not around the corner. However. . . . we are beginning to wonder: Has our precious one been born yet? If so, what is his/her life like? Are they with family or are they already at the orphanage? Has he/she been abandoned? Are they in good health?

So many "what if's" but one thing remains for sure, they are in the LORD's hands. And there is no safer place for us to put them.

A Few Up-dates

Here are a few things we know about our current "status" in the wait. . . according to my best sources (the Ethiopian Forum through Bethany).

There are 6 families waiting to travel: One family with travel dates for mid April.

• This means that they have passed their court date successfully (over in ET) and are now waiting for a US Embassy appointment.

There are 5 families waiting for a successful court date.

• This means that they have been "matched" or referred a child/ren and are waiting for their court date to come (and to pass with all the paperwork properly completed).

There are 26 families waiting (ahead of us) for a referral

• This means we have completed our dossier and it is now over in ET going from desk to desk so that we can be matched with a child God has picked for our family. Only there are 26 families to be matched first. :)

So we are two months into the waiting process and we have moved up the chain a few spots.

ALSO, I wanted to up-date on Eric's health. His "spots" and rash are nearly gone. He still has a few twinges of pain from time to time, but we are grateful to have the experience of shingles behind us. It is no longer known to us as "a strange and ambiguous disease that older people always seem to get." We are now in the "know."

Possible Set Backs - But probably NOT :)

We have been receiving some news of changes taking place in Ethiopia. The US government is requiring some further treatment of the children before being permitted their US visas, especially in the area of TB. Here is what we have been told:

The third item to be addressed is TB testing. Every child being adopted is now being required (by the CDC - US agency) to have a TB test before their visa can be issued. The testing is done by the IOM - the only clinic recognized by the US Embassy in Addis. After a child's court case, they will be taken to IOM for this testing.

For children under 2, panel pediatricians will review history and physical signs to determine if a gastric aspiration is needed to obtain a sputum sample. If the culture is positive, then TB treatment will be required.

For children 2-14 years, they will all undergo a skin test (TST). If the test shows TB exposure, then a chest x-ray will be done. If the chest x-ray indicates possible TB, then a smear culture will be required. The results of the culture will determine whether treatment is necessary. We (the Embassy) expect that many children may show exposure in the TST, but hopefully few will have an irregular chest x-ray. If a culture is taken, it will take a minimum of 8 weeks to confirm a negative. After 8 weeks, the IOM will write a report on a given form stating that the child does not have TB.

For a positive result, the IOM knows the positive result in three weeks. For those children who are found to be TB positive, they will undergo 6 months of Directly Observed Therapy at IOM’s clinic in Addis Ababa before an immigrant visa will be issued.

The Embassy noted the following as additional follow-up: "We will all be working through the new TB requirements together. Please have patience and know that we will be working hard to make everything as smooth as possible for the families. Keep in mind, the 8 week culture delay is only IF a child over 2 has an exposure reading on their TST and THEN has an abnormal chest x-ray. Otherwise those children will be fine with no delays. We expect delays only in a very few number of cases. Please refrain from worrying adoptive parents with talk of widespread delays."

I don't think that this will affect us directly, since we are adopting a child under 2 years of age. However, there are plenty of other adoptive parents out there that are adopting older children. Please pray that the wait would not be long and that they (and we) would "cast all of our cares upon Him", not wasting time worrying about it. :)

God is so Faithful

It has been awhile since we have posted any up-dates. That is due mostly to two reasons. The first is that there really aren’t any more up-dates concerning the adoption. The second is that the past two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind of family health concerns.

April’s father, Glenn Martin, traveled with a mission team to Guatemala March 2nd to the 14th. However, due to a snowy runway and weather, most of the passengers’ luggage was removed and left to be sent on a plane the next day or so. This included Dad’s suitcase and medicines for blood thinner. The team waited for their bags and then headed to their work sight a day and a half behind. Working hard to make up time, Dad and several others were cutting up trusses from the old roof that they were sent to replace. Dad suddenly felt tingling in his left side and sat down. It quickly became apparent that he had suffered a stroke at the young age of 56. He was flown on an emergency small 10 passenger plane back to Guatemala City hospital. He miraculously arrived at the hospital within seven hours to receive further emergency treatment. The doctors soon reported that his clot must have begun dissolving before he had received any treatment for it. Praise our awesome God!

It was a long series of events that got him to the hospital and also a long series of phone calls and plans to get him home to PA. But he is now home, home. He went through one week of in home physical therapy and has now begun out patient therapy at a local PT center. He has gone from not being able to sit up on his own, to now walking without a cane – even up a short flight of stairs. He still struggles with his ability to focus and concentrate on numbers and words and is “edgy” – best way to describe it. He feels that after sitting 10 minutes or so he needs to get up and walk around or move around. This makes sleeping difficult. But I am amazed at how he has improved in this short amount of time.

To top this off my mom ended up in the ER for what we thought was appendicitis, the day after Dad was discharged from the hospital. After four hours of testing they found that it was a kidney stone that was causing all of the trouble and her discomfort and pain quickly passed, leaving her just exhausted. She also has made a quick recovery.

And just to add a twist on everything, Eric was diagnosed with Shingles this past week. So he is dealing with quite a bit of biting and stinging pain while continuing to work. But this too seems to be coming to an end. Today he finally feels that the pain is de-escalating instead of increasing day after day. Also all of the poison looking bubbled rashes have now stopped oozing and are scabbing over.

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and concerns for our family, immediate and extended. We are so blessed by those who walk with us.