Where have we been?  Where is my blog?  I don't know.  Really.  We were completely lost for about 4 months, hanging on by a thread, and somewhere in the last couple of months, we came off the respirator of 'family of 6 growing pains,' and here we are.  It's been a long 6 months.  But, that's another story, and I will get back to it soon.  For now, there's more!

We just got news that we have been submitted to court with our case to adopt 'T,' the kid's older sister.  Whoa.  This is familiar.  Just last week I was getting a feeling that I missed someone, someone who belonged here, and I was ready.  Ready to do this again.  Ready to be a mommy again.  

We met her in April, when we went to pick up Jesse & Lucy.  (New names, good story, more to come!)  She appeared at the care center steps with this look in her eyes.  It tore right through us and when I looked at Vince he said, "Oh, she's ours, we got to get her home."  She had been separated from Jesse & Lucy after caring for them for many years.  

We sat and talked, and asked if she'd like to see pictures of the kids.  (That's her in the gray sweater with red trim.)  She was very quiet, but wanted to look, and there were a lot of tears.  It was a moment in time I will never forget.  I didn't know I would meet my new daughter that day, and the emotion was high, and God had us all wrapped in his arms.  I'll have to write more about it later, it was very intense.  It was a good intense,  and sad, and happy, and full of grief, all wrapped up in one.  Before we knew it, 2 aunts arrived, and one of their children.  We were in awe that we were meeting birth family and they graciously allowed us to ask all kinds of questions.  We learned so much that we will be able to pass on to our children. 

 

We spent the day together, and then the next.  We let her watch us, talk with us, but from the first moment we saw each other, we all knew what we wanted.  It was a unique experience to ask T if she wanted us to adopt her, and make her our daughter, part of our family.  When we did, she jumped up and said 'Yes!!!'  She never wanted to be separated from her siblings, and we had asked about her from day 1.  In my mind, she should have been home in April with Jesse & Lucy.  I don't know why things had to work out this way, but they did.  Now, we're just grateful that she is really and truly coming home.

Before we left, T gave us a coffee ceremony.  She sat, lit the incense, roasted the famous Ethiopian coffee beans, ground them, and made us a delicious cup of coffee.  It was an honor for us, and we just loved every minute we got to spend with her.

During the last 6 months of adjustment we have been waiting to hear about our case, and working on paperwork.  Others who have traveled have sent back photos and she looks wonderful.  She is just beautiful, in that way that only Ethiopians can be.  I am just in love with Lucy's beautiful curls and skin, and she tells me that T's hair is the same, but T knows how to braid it!  Yeah!  She can teach me!

For now, we are jumping back into the waiting game.We wait to see when we get a court date.  We may not have to physically go to the court for our court date, since we were just there in January for Jesse & Lucy, but we really don't know.  Then, we come home, to wait for an embassy appointment.  My most hopeful guess is court in early November, home in  late December?  That is a hopeful, prayerful, wishful guess. 

I wish I could post full pictures, but can't until after court.  I love the picture of her dancing on the left, with her hair flying in the wind, just being a kid.  She has a hard story.  I am praying that she will relax in our home, and be able to recapture some of her childhood.  I always think of the kids song, "Red, and yellow, black and while, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."  This young woman is precious and I can't wait to have her home.  

I've got a few minutes and internet at the airport, so thought I'd take the time to write down a little of what happened over the last few days. The most obvious and exciting thing is that we are in DC about to board Ethiopian Airlines and go get our children!! Vince & I are both a little overwhelmed with how we got to this point, and all of the people in our lives who are loving us and helping us with our boys while we're gone. So, maybe that's a good place to start.

We have been part of a church called ValleyLife for 13 years. We 'do' church a little differently than you might associate with the word 'church.' We meet together in homes, in very small groups and walk through life together. We do our best to help each other live life to the fullest in every way that Christ offers in the most generous ways. It's very simple, but very, very real. We have seen our church in our home grow many times over, and watched other people start their own house church in their own neighborhoods. This way of living out our faith has forever changed us.

Ed & Debbie Waken are the first people we met at ValleyLife. They have become dear friends and mentors. Our lives have changed as we had children, moved to a different home, etc., and we are not always faithful in the relationships that we love as we would like to be. These last few months have been hard . . . so hard. I have found myself in self preservation I guess, not being fully engaged with those I love. The Wakens have been faithful to us, and loved us more than we deserve, and of course, Ed took us to the airport. Then, they watched our kids most of the day. They don't just watch our kids, they loved them, like grandparents. We are blessed.

Next, there's Jared & Allison. We've known them since they were high school sweethearts, watched them get married, and then have 2 wonderful little boys. Allison is an amazing photographer, and has taken some of my most treasured photos of our family. We hardly see each other. Life it seems gets in the way. But, Allison agreed in a heartbeat to keep my boys for 2 nights, take them to our day of Easter celebration at the Waken's with our church family. I'm sure she made sure the boys had their Easter baskets full of excitement. To top it off, Allison will be at our house to photograph our family as we reunite in our home for the first time. We are blessed.

Then, there are Gary & Jill Oliverson. Jack, and their son Hayden are fast friends. They have been in school together since kindergarten. I don't think I've met more generous people. I've told our boys that we need to learn some lessons from the Oliverson's. I can't count how many times I've called Jill at the last minute to help me out with picking up Jack at school, or taking him to soccer practice, or to watch the boys. Jill called me the morning before we left and said, 'I've got the whole day free, what do you need me to do?' I sent her on a mission to buy clothes for all my 4 children, and off she went. Who does that? Jill does. Gary & Jill will have the boys for 3 nights while we are gone. I know they will be safe, have a blast, and be loved on. We are blessed.

Chris & Michelle Spalding . . . where do I start? The Spaldings and their boys Nathan & Will are our church. We live life together, and they are our best friends. I cannot begin to tell you all they have done for us over the last year of this adoption process, and all the things they are going to be doing to have our home ready when we get back with Yordanos & Semere. Michelle is doing crazy things like buying Semere a mattress, putting pretty decorations in Yordanos room, and I'm sure making sure my boys are bathed EVERY night they are at their house. :) Chris will try not to pull his hair out when he has a house full of 4 boys, and probably enjoy it! He'll make the kids laugh, and not miss their mommy and daddy. There are so many, many things I could tell you about the Spaldings, and why we love them, but I'm a little overwhelmed at how much they mean to us. The first day I met Michelle I called another girlfriend of mine and told her, "I think I just met my new best friend." The double whammy was when Vince & Chris liked each other to, and our kids were all the same age. I'm babbling now, but we are so very blessed.

So, these are the people holding down the Dorazio fort while we travel across the world to bring back more Dorazio's. There are so many more people I need to thank, and will, but they just called boarding! We are getting on that plane and not looking back.

People sometimes say things like 'You guys are so awesome, you are doing such a great thing with this adoption.' I hate to shatter your image of me, but I am a sinner, saved by grace, and don't deserve one of these amazing people in my life I just told you about, or my beautiful boys Jack & Luke, or our children who God has rescued from a painful childhood. I am not saving anyone, God has given them to us as a responsiblity to love. My prayer is that we are faithful to them and their hurt, and obedient to our calling as parents. My prayer is that God heals their hearts and that I am always grateful for every moment he has given our family.

Salam!

Cleared for travel!!!!

My friend Nikki was praying for Semere & Yordanos a few weeks ago, and told me that God really impressed upon her the date of April 14th. We land in Phoenix on April 14th to begin our new life with Semere & Yordanos. If you don't believe in God, you just haven't met Him yet. He pulled out one amazing miracle for our family and during the last 2 days and in a complete surprise, we are completely cleared to leave in 2 days, Saturday the 7th, to take the kids out of the orphanage, go to the embassy on the 12th for their visas, and fly home!

We really don't know how all the pieces fell together. There were many things that still had to happen, and at best, I was hoping for going the end of April. I'm just in awe of what happened, and that it's real. After all this waiting, it's over. No more waiting. It's a done deal. I'll try a more concrete post later, but I just wanted to tell the world!

Here's our first family picture that Luke drew for me. The boys are so excited!

"Mommy, Daddy and Yordanos are flying a kite way up high, and Jack, Semere, & Luke are down there playing soccer," says Luke when he drew our family picture. Good thing he's churning out family photos, because we get on an airplane THIS Saturday, April 7th to go pick up Semere & Yordanos!

We will land, in Phoenix, on April 14th. Stay tuned . . .

This silly picture was taken at about this time last year. We started dreaming and praying for Semere & Yordanos with that initial adoption application. In some ways it seems like yesterday, and in others, it seems WAY too long ago.

We passed a major milestone last Wednesday when our adoption file was submitted to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The kids became little Dorazio's back in January, but now they need visas to travel into the US with us. Now, we wait a little more . . . but with much more hope and an END in sight.

We have not heard any definite information yet from the Embassy. We have done everything we can proactively to see that we are passed through as soon as possible. If you read my last post, there is an option that would be a miracle, and that we are praying for until we hear otherwise.

Option #1 is that the embassy looks at our children's case files, and clears them for visas immediately. We would get an email or call saying that we could travel to get our children. Like I said in a prior post, it hardly ever happens. But until I hear that it's not going to happen to us, Option #1 is what I am praying for with every breath I take in and out.

Do you want to know one of my more light hearted reasons for this prayer? We live in Phoenix. Right about now, it's starting to heat up. I really would love Semere & Yordanos to have at least a few weeks of pleasant weather to play outside and enjoy wide open spaces, instead of the small, cramped care center. I guess it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but my new children have probably never jumped on a trampoline, played soccer on beautiful grass, thrown a tennis ball over and over to a 100lb bear of a dog, or sat outside snuggled on their mommy and daddy's lap and watched the fire in the firepit while sipping a cup of hot chocolate.

Yes, we will take them up north (Arizona mountains) this summer to escape the heat, and probably even the beach in California, but our first few weeks at home are going to have to be quiet, at home, with just the 6 of us getting to know each other. I will take Semere & Yordanos on the hottest day on record if that's as long as it takes, but my dream, and my prayer is Option #1.

I'll keep you posted! Trust me, when I know the date of when we will finally get to get on that airplane and bring them home, everyone will know! I'll be walking a few feet off the ground and you'll most likely see fireworks light up the sky.

I've been quiet. The last 11 weeks have been . . . blank. Just a low, dull hum that has filled my mind with nothing to say. We've done ALOT in the last 11 weeks. My husband and boys went on a mission trip to an orphanage in Mexico, we did minor construction on our home, Jack played soccer, Luke entertained us, Roman has been trained to be the most awesome dog who ever graced the planet, we did school and everyday life, had wonderful company come to visit and last but not least Vince and I took an amazing trip to Playa del Carmen to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary while Super Jan (my mom, aka GranJan watched the boys.) And yet, it's been out of focus, like looking at life with the wrong contacts in your eyes. (Yes, I have real life experience with that.)

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has been wrapped up in the idea and reality of Semere & Yordanos coming to our family, becoming part of us, living in our house, settling in, learning English, bonding, and how in the world that was all going to happen one day in our home, right here in Peoria, Arizona. Everything is about to change.

Tomorrow, we have reasonable expectations that our adoption file will land in a pile in the US embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At that point, the US embassy will look over our files and decide what happens next. There are actually a few options that we know about.

Option #1: The embassy decides our file is in order, no more questions need to be asked, and we PASS immediately within a few days.

Option #2: The embassy will see our file, and within a few days to a few weeks ask for an interview from any living relatives of our children.

Option #3: The embassy will look at our file and decide they need more info, and send the file back to our agency.

Option #4: The embassy will decide they need help with our file, and send it to another embassy in Nairobi, Kenya for further review.

Option #5: ?? The embassy could say something completely new that has never been said before in the history of adoption, and we will decide what to do from there.

Our preference would be option #1. Option #2 is the most likely scenario, as that is what has been happening to almost everyone in front of us. If that is the case, they will schedule the interview somewhere in the next 4 weeks. We will travel . . . at some point.

Tonight, while I am going to lay my head down in sleep, I am praying that 2 files with the names Semere Dorazio & Yordanos Dorazio are being delivered to the US Embassy. I am praying that the person who opens their files has eyes to see that my children need to come home . . . now. They have the power to pass our cases within a matter of days. This is my prayer. I won't lie and tell you I think that is going to happen. It's not the norm, so I am setting my "reasonable' expectations at an interview with a living relative at some point, and Vince and I getting on an airplane within the next month.

But, my hope, my dream, my prayer during my sleepless night is that we pass. I'm not ready, Semere's bed isn't even here yet, but he won't care. Yordano's needs some more clothes and I need to put up some more food in the freezer. I will order pizza for a month if they can come home now, I just don't care anymore.

In the words of Anne of Green Gables, “I can't help flying up on the wings of anticipation. It's as glorious as soaring through a sunset... almost pays for the thud.” I'm a glass half full kind of girl, and I won't pray or dream of anything less tonight. I'm ready for whatever awaits in the morning.

Good night sweet children, mama's coming!

Here goes . . . I haven't written, because I can't start. I (Lana) am the one who writes this post, as a representative of our whole family, so, it's my feelings and emotions that you get. Unfortunately for my little blog, I haven't known what to say, or how to say it, so, I've been silent. Silence is not something I usually do. :)

As a mother of 2 boys already, and now a new boy and girl, there is something very unnatural going on inside of me. (If I don't write something I never will, so, get ready for some raw, maybe a little crazy 'post court, but left my children in Africa' Mama Bear talk for a few minutes.) It's as if there is an instinct inside of me, a real, physical thing that is pounding on the door of my heart, telling me that I have children, 2 beautiful children, who I love more than words, that I left in an orphanage in Ethiopia, Africa. My heart isn't able to do anything about it, so it bounces around in my mind and physical body, trying to find escape, exhausting me on all fronts. I'm here, sitting in my wonderful home in Peoria, Arizona, and my sweet children are in Ethiopia, crying because they are alone and not with us. Every cell in my body is screaming at me that this is wrong, and my heart and soul are telling me to do something, and they are coming up against a brick wall.

I knew this was coming. I knew that I would go for court in Ethiopia, that the judge would tell me that it was a final decree and that the contract of adoption was unbreakable, and Semere and Yordanos were now my children . . . and then I would get on an airplane, and fly back to Arizona. When I got on that airplane, my arms hugging and kissing my Jack and Luke, to comfort them at the pain of leaving their brother and sister, my own heart was breaking, missing my 2 children who I traveled around the world to birth into our family. There is nothing natural about adoption.

This isn't natural, or normal, or what I would choose. But, I would choose Semere & Yordanos over and over again, fly across the world countless times, and spend my every last penny for them, so it's my new normal. In reading adoption blogs, I've critically judged some for being a little melodramatic. Well, I get it. This is incredibly dramatic, and more melodramatic that I would like to feel!

For now, we wait on the US embassy. I don't know why it takes so long in Ethiopia. I've heard of countries where you pass court and a couple weeks later you take your children to the states. There are a lot of answers to that question, and believe me, you'll hear about it, and learn how to help it go faster in a post to come, but for now, we wait. It could be as long as 6 months before Semere & Yordanos are issued visas and passage to their new home. What I know for sure, is that they are ours, and there is nothing an embassy, or government or senator could do to change the fact that we have a decree that is final that our family is now Vince, Lana, Jack, Semere, Luke and Yordanos Dorazio.

So much for not being melodramatic. I'll cap it off with the video that my new friend and adoptive Mommy Jamie took for us the first time we all met Semere & Yordanos. Even as I watch this for what seems like the 100th time, all my crying and sadness of the last few paragraphs is replaced by the blessings of our family. ALL of my children are safe, healthy, and completely secure and learning to be secure in their parents' and God's love. We'll be together sooner than I know it. I've had my time of mourning, but, I think it's about over for me. I'll show myself and my family grace to miss each other and mourn when it hits us, but there is so much more to be hopeful of now that we have Semere & Yordanos to look forward to coming home.

Yordanos! She needs no introduction. She is my daughter, no doubt about it. It took me this long to post a video of pictures of her, because I could not decide on a song that fits the spirt that encompases the body of this little one full of life. I chose this song because I am breathing a sigh of relief that God has given me a girl! I needed her, and I am completely subject to her charms. Oh, how my soul needed her!!