announcing...

For a variety of reasons, until now, we've been selective in sharing the news about adopting Tommy.  It's been a long, winding road, on which we've only been absolutely certain we can bring him home in the last 30 days or so.  Still, there are a few hurdles and speed bumps, but at this stage, all the official roadblocks to bringing Tommy home have been removed. So, we feel safe telling the world now and we've begun sending out Christmas cards with an announcement.  So if you've just recently heard the news and this is your first visit to our blog, then "welcome........................and surprise!"

Of course, we'd love for you to read the whole story starting here.  We've tried hard to document our progress, as well as the challenges we've encountered along the way.  We welcome your questions and observations.  We'll try to answer the obvious questions here quickly:

• This time last year, we weren't planning on another child but by early 2010 it was clear we were being called to adopt.
• Tommy's health is generally good, but he has a serious neurological condition that needs to be addressed, and he can't get the help he needs in Africa.  Here's a little background on Tommy.
• He's from Ethiopia, where things are not good for children in general and there are 4 million orphans who need families.
• Quick synopsis of "why a child from another country?"
• and "why consider a child with a serious medical condition?"
• Our paperwork for the American side of the process is done.
• We (just Jen & Chris) are flying to Ethiopia January 8, 2011 for Ethiopian Court. They can choose yes or no, but most often they say yes. Once they say yes, Tommy is (considered by Ethiopian and American governments) our son.
• After court, we come home but Tommy stays there 4 to 12 weeks until we can go back and bring him home with us.

The challenges:

• Adoption is expensive.  Ours will cost right around $31,000.  Although we've been blessed by friends, family and a few organizations, we're still about $5,000 shy of what we'll need by February to bring him home.
• Tommy has a medical condition that we know impacts him physically and cognitively.  He needs to be evaluated by several different kinds of doctors and probably requires tons of therapy.  Cincinnati has an international adoption clinic that can provide some guidance and assistance, but mostly it's not covered by insurance.
• Under the best of circumstances, adopted kids struggle emotionally to overcome the psychological trauma of being separated from their parents and the impact of living in an institutional setting.  Even the "high end" orphanage is still an orphanage.  It will take time, patience and skill that we've been trying, as a family, to develop.
• Although we belong to a Catholic church, with a community full of loving people, few there have much experience with adoption, international adoption, or inter-racial/mixed culture families.  We've been lucky enough to find a small group of other adoptive families nearby and hope to connect with them to learn from their experience.

So, there you have it.  The whole story, so to speak.  Overall, this is great news for our family.  We're so very excited and believe God has blessed us immensely with this opportunity to make a difference in the life of a little boy and at the same time change the growth curve of our family tree. Some friends have asked what they can do to help, so here are a couple suggestions:

• Pray for us!
• Prayerfully consider making a cash contribution to our Tommy Fund.  We're finalizing an arrangement with a local charity to make contributions tax deductible, but we're plenty happy to put your money to work with ours to help Tommy have a better life.
• Buy some Ethiopian coffee!  This coffee vendor sends us $5 for every bag of coffee sold from this link.
• Plan to join us in May 2011 in Elizabethtown PA when we participate in the 2011 Walk of Hope to show our appreciation for Brittany's Hope Foundation, who helped bring Tommy home.
• Look into adoption; especially international adoption and the plight of "waiting children."

Thank you for visiting our blog.  Bookmark us and follow our progress over the next 100 days and beyond.  We hope God blesses you and your families as much as he has ours.  Merry Christmas!