Blessings this Holiday

BLESSINGS to you and your family this holiday!  Blessings is what the holidays are truly about.  We are thankful for our family, our amazing children who put as at awe each day, our friends, our health and all we are blessed with. It is an extremely emotional holiday this year, we are coming to the one year anniversary in which I lost my adored little sister Katlyn, it is also our first holiday with out her. I remember at this time last year, we were kindly arguing about our mom's X-mas gift... oh how I wish I could again...
I miss her contagious smile each and every day and she truly had the biggest heart! (Scott, my brother, had the same smile.) Blessings. What we all will do this holiday is remember and celebrate all we were given and all that we were taught by our special angels. It's not about the stress and the clutter... it's deep in my heart this holiday year, that's it's about all that we are simply given in our lives each and every day by the people who cross our path in life; all for different but meaningful reasons. Take a moment this holiday and reflect and share your blessings!

Next year at this time, we should be a family of 6! We will have a new face at the table, a new body around the tree and a new voice in the house... oh we can't wait! Will this be her first Christmas? I'm sure. Another blessing indeed! We have been on the waiting list now for about 4 months... waiting for that call. In God's time it will happen; we continue to keep the faith.

We wish you and your family a heartfelt peaceful holiday. Embrace all those around you as we will. Reflect and remember. And just as we do... watch for the butterflies!

Dreaming ... Travel

One more step closer. With the end of the year upon us, we decided we better get our first round of shots for travel to Ethiopia done. (Just 3 more shots to go!) Allan and I accomplished this bright and early one morning before our way to work.  Avah was with us and she thought it was just great that she could watch her parents get shots and she didn't need to have any of them! =) Giggle.. giggle...

Adoption is indeed a process and a journey of itself. As we wait, I always find new hope in reading other families adoption blogs and especially after seeing how their children mold into their God intended families; no more precious of a Gift!

In Gods Time... Keeping the Faith

It has been awhile since our last post. Kids are back at school, we are activity central over here. Without the big white board that screams out in the kitchen showcasing the weeks activities, I'm not sure we could keep it all connected? Yes, everyone and every family is busy.  Busy, busy. Why do we do all of this?  Well, I guess it's the American way of making sure our children are involved, connected and apart of some sort of individual growth and development, much less you hope for teamwork. However, I always feel we need to "try" and keep it all into perspective. As Allan has said; we need to value what the hierarchy of importance is within our own family too... we try. We try, by keeping the importance of family dinners as much as possible and sometimes choosing when other things are more important then making that one practice or that one dance lesson.  It's important I feel, we not only teach the value of dedication to a team but the dedication to the FAMILY!

Adoption: We still have not seen her face, heard her story or know her name. We continue to pray and anticipate that we will "get the call" soon. We have a lot going on here and we do our best in finding the comfort in knowing, "In Gods Time, Gods Plan will be fulfilled."  I remember when my daughter Avah was born we were torn with what her middle name should be. Should it be "Jean", a name after my father and her mothers middle name? (Though Avah Jean sure does flow nicely,)  "Faith" just kept calling me. So "Avah Faith" she is! Amazing through all of our families journey this last year after loosing my adored sister, Avah's medical issues and our adoption journey, raising adolescent boys,  that middle name "Faith" sure seems to have been indeed what God intended!  Hence or blog name; faiths journey through life...

Like being pregnant, we are expecting. We have prepared the girls room, its beautiful and ready. We continue to prepare by having conversations, reading adoption related books, stories and articles to try and best prepare for her arrive. Just like having a biological child,  you don't know exactly what is ahead of you but you do your best to prepare the best you can.

We continue to Keep the Faith, knowing In God's Time we will all be united and we will bring our God Intended Child... HOME.

I am ONE

"I am only ONE, but I am ONE.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do"
                     -- Edward Hale

(2 yr old Samolia refugee camp CHILD- July 2011 Degahaly Camp) Somalia is also Ethiopia's neighbor.

Karki family is still waiting for "the call."
Keeping the FAITH in God's Time.

For the Orphans...

Well its been one month today that we became a "waiting family." In the adoption world, that is not long. To the families waiting, every week seems like a long time. I know I set myself up on high expectations for a quick referral due to the older age we are adopting but as I am learning more and more... things can change ever so quickly in the world of adoption; especially when you are dealing with a different country. 


I am almost at a loss of words. (Rare for me, I know.) My heart just aches. There is so much happening in Ethiopia right now. Orphanages are closing in Southern Ethiopia, what happens to those kids? Time frames are taking longer for everything: referrals, court dates travel etc. In the meantime... kids without parents or families WAIT.  I met a lady (family) through our yahoo chat group that is in the middle of her 2nd Ethiopian adoption. She is adopting a 4 yr old little girl who was on the waiting list, the child was waiting to find  a mom and a dad for over a year.  I remember that little girls face! When we started the process with our agency CHI, she was on the wait list. Of course she fits our age profile. We were new in the paper process. Soon after, that little girl was matched with a family. Amen. Now, I've connected with that mom and they have named that little 4 yr. old girl JOY. They have their airline tickets for November purchased, her room ready, clothes bought, family (including her older brother at home) now ready for her. And Little Ms. JOY knows she has a mommy and daddy coming for her. 


Recently a couple men from the Southern region of ET where Joy was in an orphanage came to our agencies transition home and took her along with 2 other children.  They tried telling these men that these children were already matched to families, they didn't care.  Can you imagine how scary for those kids? Our agency director is now on her way to ET to try and locate these kids and allow them to be adopted as they were intended.  These are very scary and unsettling times in ET. Not fair for anyone! UNICEF has been behind a lot of these terrible things happening, NOT an organization to support! (I thought these were the good guys?)  As I read in an adoptive mothers blog, " I wonder if UNISEF  and these governmental officials have ever been in one of these orphanges where kids are begging you to be their mommy?"  


These are heart aching and scary times. Please pray for the children and the families who wish to provide a forever home.  In the meantime, we'll try to keep the FAITH and continue on. 

We are waiting!

As of Friday August 19th, we became an official "waiting family!"  After mounds of papers, fingerprints, official documents the majority of paperwork is behind us.  Now we wait on a list with other expecting parents to finally learn of our child's face!  We are 69th on the list with the majority of parents waiting for infants, so who knows how long we will wait.  It could be a day, week, month or longer.  We are anxious to be connected with our daughter and are scrambling to prepare our home in time. I'm not sure if we will be fully prepared by the time we get the call, but I wonder if anyone ever is!  We are getting closer and closer as each day passes which is exciting!     Allan

The Four Candles

It's late, its been a big day. We headed down to the metro for my son Keegan's hockey tournament for the MN Selects. Thinking of the whole day... as my goalie son skated on the ice and as always needs to make eye contact with his mom, making sure I'm watching, we share a glimpse of love between us... even at the age of 11. He's got a huge heart!
My oldest son Chandler, sitting next to me. (Wow has time flew by.) Such a great kid, supporting his younger brother today, laughing with his "old and un-cool" parents and just  hanging out. He can still give me an "I love you too" in public; yes!
Avah is at grandma's house having fun in the sun and calls me with her daily accomplishments... she is just such a blessing! Just love her! She is a mirror of her "special auntie."

As everyone is now in bed, I arrange all the now State Certified documents of our Dossier that we will send off in the early a.m.; the reality is... in about 2 weeks we are officially "expecting" child  number 4! Are we ready for this? Well, I'm not sure? Allan and I never really "planned"for having #4?  I was the one when all my friends dreamed of their possible future last names from high school romances... I really dreamed of New York City! And now, here we are and Allan is unexpectedly now searching for Ethiopian restaurants near by! So cute!  Oh how life changes. But I really questioned and panicked at each and every pregnancy... why should this be any different?

I looked at pictures of my family, my recent whole family, with my parents and my sister Katlyn as we were two Christmas's ago. They've been up there on the kitchen white board since she passed this last winter, I haven't had the courage to really look at them, read and take a look at them until really now, tonight. Tonight... I wanted to call her and tell her she's "going to be an auntie soon again"... she was the BEST...  but no phone number was going to reach her. But I DO KNOW she is aware and she must be  helping... I truly believe. This last Christmas she gave and wrote me a message, its a message that would give me a gift every day from then 'til always and it said... " Carrie~ For my sister who I Love and Adore and to who I will Always Admire. Love your sister, Katlyn."   These are the TRUE gifts!

On that same white board, I found another piece of paper that was given to me and now tonight I read it, I needed it most tonight I guess...
 Thank you Katlyn for still responding when I needed to call you the most...


The Four Candles


The "Four" Candles burned slowly.
Their Ambiance was so soft you could hear them speak...

The first candle said, "I am PEACE, but these days, nobody wants to keep me lit."
Then PEACE'S flame slowly diminishes and goes out completely.

The second candle says, "I am FAITH, but these days, I am no longer indispensable." Then FAITHS flame slowly diminishes and goses out completely.

The third candle spoke, "I am LOVE and I haven't the strength to stay lit any longer. People put me aside and dont understand my importance. They even forget to love those who are nearest to them."

And waiting no longer, LOVE goes out completely.

Suddenly... A child enters the room and sees the three candles no longer burning, The child begins to cry, "Why are you not burning? You are supposed to stay lit until the end?"

Then the FOURTH candle spoke gently,
"Don't be afraid, for I AM HOPE, and while I still burn, we can re-light the other candles."

With shining eyes the child took the Candle of HOPE and lit the other three candles.

Never let the Flame of HOPE go out of your Life.
With Hope,  no matter how bad things look and are... PEACE, LOVE, FAITH and HOPE can shine brightly in our lives.

Approved.... Moving Forward!

I am just quite emotional today and so thrilled! Elated! After going to our community garden this morning, cleaning our vegetables, I noticed the mail man came. I casually walked to the mailbox and amazingly saw an envelope from The Department of Homeland Security.... it came in 1 week!!! Our I- 600 approval for Orphan Petition from our fingerprints is here! (We were expecting 1 to 2 months possibly; nope 1 week!) I will drive down our Dossier papers to St. Paul for State Certification this week and then all of the last paperwork will be off to the Ethiopian Embassy!! We will be on the official "waiting list" soon! We are closer to seeing her face!


Emotions have been flying! This whole process is just like no other; its so hard to explain unless you go through it.  This whole journey has been about FAITH. This blog has been embraced by the word FAITH.
Faith is not only my daughter Avah's middle name but indeed the story and the basis of the strength in my life.
Definition of FAITH: Complete trust or confidence in someone (God) or something. Trusting acceptance and Gods' will. 
Our adoption news was not fully accepted or supported initially. I realize the intentions were not out of haste but out of "protecting us." We had just lost my adored sister Katlyn... was it too fast? Well the reality is, it was OUR FAITH that we needed to trust and listen too. Adoption was not a new topic for discussion in our home, actually it was a topic for many years between Allan and I! Well, it has been Gods Will for our family and we need to trust and have faith.
The emotional part is I truly believe Katlyn has been behind us on all of this. She has been the guiding light and the nudger. This time, this adoption... has been moving as willed for us. This summer has been very hard, lots of emotions and we just SO MISS HER!  But I can feel her in so many ways, I can actually hear her at times. I text my dad the news of our acceptance today and told him how we all have had such loss and this little girl (whom we dont know yet) will have had such loss as well... we will all need each other. My dad asked me when he first heard of our  adoption news, "Is this what is in your heart? In your heart, is this what you really want?" I replied with tear filled eyes, "Yes!" He replied, "Then its the right thing to do." Thank you Dad for that one line of support, I felt your unconditional love!


Thank you to my loving supportive husband, my open children, our family and friends. Thank you to our two special guardian angels... because of YOU we will continue to keep the FAITH!

Full table

It's the little moments that count. Last night, we had a nice Sunday night family dinner. Our normal tradition is to all hold hands and say a small short prayer and then we all share what we are thankful for that particular day. In years past, this may have included such things as "chocolate milk." "Thank you God for my chocolate milk"... funny, it all counts right? 
Anyways, my son Keegan made the nice comment that pretty soon our table will be full! Yep, he's right! We no longer will have that one empty chair, all seats will be full. I paused for a moment and looked around at my 3 beautiful children's faces as they laughed and poked fun at each other. How I cant wait to see the face of #4! What will she look like? Indeed not the blonde hair that my other 3 children have. (Yes, maybe I wont be the only NON- blonde in the family.) What will her name be? How old will she really be? Will she laugh and poke fun just the same? Indeed I cant wait.  All chairs will be full and the Karki family will be COMPLETE!  Its the little moments...

Please continue to pray for strength and faith for the journey we are all on.

Fingerprinting DONE

We are happy to say our fingerprinting through US Homeland Security is DONE! Yes! Our appointment was actually scheduled for today but we took our chances and drove down to St. Paul 2 days early and they got us in! (Of course they reminded us they normally don't do them early but since we showed up right away and it wasn't packed yet, they let us in!) In and out in 23 minutes after waiting almost 2 months to get this done. One more step closer! 

Of course the question is now: What's next? We wait with patience again to get our approval back and then we include this with our Dossier (more paperwork) to now be State Certified (which I plan to drive down and "show up" again instead of mail waiting,) then Authenticated in Washington and Ethiopia. Sounds like a lot of processes; well it is, but our job is almost done! (atleast with the paper chase.) I am hoping we will be on the official "wait list" by the end of September. I'm not sure how the Ethiopian raining season will affect all of this? (All courts shut down in Ethiopia from mid August  through September for their raining season.)  
Goal: Focus on the things WE can control and LET GO and have FAITH for all the things we cannot!
Blessings...

Biometrics Appointment Received

Yeah! We received a letter in the mail yesterday from US Home Land Security! Our biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment is set for July 29th! One more step closer. 

Precious

How precious is this? Notes found in Avah's room that were made by her neighbor friends and her. The neighbor girls wrote about which house they lived in and their dogs names welcoming her to the "hood." Avah's note indeed conveys she's excited. Notice on the front: one blond girl and one with black curly hair... precious!

Our first Mehaber

Mehaber Celebration on Saturday went well. It really got us all more excited! Such cute kids and so fun to see all the adopted families. Here's some pictures from the day. Keegan eating Ethiopian food for the first time; and he liked it! Avah wearing her Mehaber African t-shirt (and she'll show you were Ethiopia is.) The kids in line to get their names written in Amharic (Ethiopian language) see picture- quite different from English. I don't think we'll be learning that anytime soon... Big brother Chandler being a good sport and going down the slide with his little sister!  We got to shop in the Merkato, watch some Ethiopian dance and take in all the kids and their families. Next year~ we'll have one more joining us!

Ethiopian Celebration

Updates: 
We have been checking the mailbox daily STILL waiting for our Fingerprinting dates through Immigration... patience, patience. Our dossier papers are all finished and have been approved by our social worker; yeah! We just need to wait for Immigration and our I-171H approval. Next, our dossier papers need State Certification (lets hope the MN Government is up and running soon) and then the Ethiopian embassy authenticates everything. After that- we will be officially on the "Waiting Family List." Everyone asks- how long? Boy if all of us adopting families knew the answer to that question, ha! Everyones story and journey is different. The age request for our daughter, being that she will be older age 3-5, "should" shorten our wait time compared to couples waiting for an infant. Indeed- one step at a time! I am starting to truly believe in Gods path, God's journey, Gods time. For so many years, Allan and I have discussed adoption. After loosing my very missed sister Katlyn, maybe its NOW that we will need each other even more; maybe now is the time intended. (I do believe Katlyn is helping us along this journey by the way.) Keep the children and families waiting in your continued prayers along with my parents and us for strength in grieving for Katlyn!

Coming up! Our family, along with grandma Diane, are attending MEHABER this Saturday, July 9th at the MN State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. Mehaber is an Ethiopian celebration with cultural booths, Ethiopian food, a Merkato with different Ethiopian items for sale, round table discussion for adopting families, dance etc. Should be fun and I'm so excited for the kids to start to learn and see their sisters culture, our new culture in OUR family! We'll post pictures. Blessings to you all and your families!

Test of Patience

Its no new news that I'm not the most patient of all people; blame it on my father. =) We are still waiting to hear from Immigration for our fingerprinting date! It doesn't help our MN state government may be temporarily shutting down due to dissagreements on budget, argh! In the meantime, I'm going back and making small changes on lots of docs that need edits before State Certification. At this time when you start to wonder if and when this will all work out, I remember too when I was biologically having my other children, being pregnant and wondering when this will be done? Funny, as soon as you hold that baby, you don't recall anything. How soon we forgot! Avah continues to "save" everything that no longer fits her for her sister and the boys are always reminding Avah that she will have to "share." =) Very cute. Please keep our family in your prayers.
The good news is- we just got back from a family vacation to Galena IL to visit family, what a great time. The kids and adults had a nice time catching up. How fun for our kids to find out they had some more cousins, and their age! We also spent a few nights in Chicago checking out the city and seeing our nephew Chaz.
We are blessed with great family.

Moving Forward!

Its been sometime since our last update. Everyone asks; "whats happening with the adoption process?" Well indeed its a process and for us basically we've been at the paper chase stage. Honestly I really wonder how many sheets of paper we've done so far? Indeed atleast a small forest... but indeed all worth it! It takes 10 months biologically to have a child, try the legal process of international adoption! =)
We are getting more excited! Our Homestudy has been finalized; praise God! We just sent in our application (I-600) to Immigration and now we wait for a fingerprinting date (FBI level) and approval. In the meantime, I am gathering all the docs needs for our Dossier (more paper.) These docs all need to be notarized, state certified and then authenticated by Ethiopia. The good news- indeed I'm a "do-er" and theres never been a wait for us! Our homestudy guide has said to me " YOU"VE BEEN ON A MISSION." We are getting closer to officially being able to be on the "wait for referral" list! Praise God!
I have tried to imagine what her face will look like- what her age will be- what her history will be- what she's doing now. I cant wait for God to finally connect us as a whole family. We are waiting...
Those willing; please continue to pray for a positive and forward moving journey for ALL of us!

Last leg on our home study

Thought I'd send out an update.
We are scheduled to meet our home study social worker May 2nd, for our first home visit! Ok, get cleaning... This is exciting, we are on our final leg for the home study. All 200 pieces of paper should be done for this part. Thank you to our friends who helped write our referral letters. Allan and I are fortunate to be traveling for 10 days to Italy and Greece in about 2 weeks. (Great job to my husband who "earned" the trip through business- expenses are paid. ) It will be nice to spend some time together; we hope we can celebrate the first leg of the homestudy being complete.

Everyone asks, "Whats next?" Well, another 200 pieces of paperwork! Not kidding. We then start our dossier that will be submitted to the Ethiopian courts for approval. These are all documents that need to be notarized, state certified and authenticated. Lets not forget the fingerprinting again. After the dossier is received and approved by the Ethiopian courts we will then be an official "waiting family." Whats a waiting family? We are ready to get a call at any time that we have been matched with a child in need. At that point we see pictures and medical information!

We are hoping for us that our wait time for referral will not take as long (compared to 6-15 months for infants.) Hopefully our wait will go much much quicker as there is more of a need for older children.

Allan and I have been doing online training about attachment, older child adoptions, being a transracial family, medical etc. We are almost done with the 10 hours.

In the meantime we have purchased tickets to attend "Mehaber" this summer in the cities. This is an Ethiopian event of celebrating and learning about the culture. Avah is coloring in her Ethiopian coloring book and learning there. She has already colored pictures for her sister welcoming her HOME! And the neighbor girls have also colored pictures telling her which house on the cul -de- sac they live. How cute!

Please continue to pray for our journey, we know we have our guardian angels providing us the strength and guidance.
Blessings!

Ethiopian Updates

We are aware that there has been conversations within Ethiopia between the USCIS/ State Department and MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia) about potential delays in Ethiopian courts in approving adoptions. Yesterday, there was a stakeholder meeting and indeed they came out saying that they plan to cut approvals to 5 per day. (Currently they are doing more like 100.) What does this mean? Well it means that getting our children home could and will indeed take longer. The good news is the systems seem to be all working together and they realize the strong need for orphans in Ethiopia to be placed with forever families. Bottom line, they just cant keep up!
At this stage, this makes us a little nervous but we will keep the FAITH in continuing to find and bring our daughter HOME. In time, this indeed will all be worth it. Please pray for the orphans!

Allan and I continue to finish our home study paperwork, prepare for our home visits from our home study social worker, doctor visits today, and work on completing 10 hours of online training to prepare for her and being a new transracial family... we continue the journey.

The Beginning

We are excited to share our family news...
The Karki family is going down the faith journey to complete our family through adoption! When I repeat faith, adopting indeed requires faith.
We are in the home study process currently and have along way to go.
We have chosen to adopt our daughter from Ethiopia.
I cant imagine my life without my 3 children, I cant wait to have more love for number 4!
Wow, did we really say number 4? =)

Each and every one of us in our immediate family is excited! Adoption doesn't need to be your choice, but it indeed is one for ours. There are almost 5 million orphaned children in Ethiopia alone. We pray for your blessings and ask for your prayers as we continue our journey to find her and bring her HOME.