We have been reading the Easter story every single day. E knows the story as we read...I read, then stop and he continues and completes the sentence. To say he has a very sharp memory is an understatement. This is the Easter Story we are reading:
He knows Christmas and what Christmas is all about. We have the book by the same author that is the story of Christmas and we still read it almost daily. He knows that story by heart. He now opens the book and reads it, and he has it nearly correct word for word. So...now that he understands Christmas, it was time to explain Easter and this story has been great. The page of the book when the angel says that He is Risen, there are 3 people in the picture. He points to one of them and says - "that's Mary!"
So today I got out the Resurrection Eggs...
and started to read the story and do the eggs and all of that. We need some more time for this one. He's too busy seeing what's inside them, taking everything out, putting them back together...but I explained very briefly what each thing is and what it represents. He's kinda getting it. He said, "is this the donkey with the palm branches?" (that's from the book above) This is our daily Easter devotion this month...he'll get it by next week and by Easter he'll be telling us the story!
The little man has a new favorite cereal...he's loves this!
And we had our conference call today with the home office Ethiopia team. Peace. Let me just say how much it meant to talk, ask questions, and hear directly what is going on, what we can expect, etc... So are you curious what we learned??? :)
There are about 20-30 cases per day being processed - praise God!! That is half of what was being processed, but that's more than 5! Things haven't stopped, they are still moving. Yay! Referrals are not affected by the slow down. (Referral = THE CALL). There are other things that were explained to us and gave us a great amount of peace - to try and explain...you'd give up reading our blog! :) But just know, that everything is good.
What is our agency doing in all of this? First, as we have said before, they are transparent, they dot ever I and cross every T. But they are doing even more and we are pleased - they are proactive and going above and beyond what is required. So what are they doing? About a month ago, they hired their own investigator who investigates every single referral that the agency receives before the referral even gets to the waiting family. What does that mean? The investigator goes to where the child was from, ensures he/she is an orphan, gathers all info on the child, etc...etc...
Our agency has quit working with orphanages where they have sensed potential problems with children not being true orphans or where they have seen "red flags" come up
Our agency has had a nurse on staff to help with the children...but now they have hired a doctor. Can I tell you what kind of peace of mind this brings?
We did ask about our declining the referral we were presented in January and if that has any impact on our wait. We were assured, with great compassion, that there is no negative impact on refusing a referral. That was a peace for us too. We explained just how difficult it was to have to say no - why we said no - and we were put at ease, and were told that the "standard wait time" is 6-12 months for the specific age range we are wanting.
We closed our conference call with Will praying. It was a great call. We were given a lot of peace that we didn't have before. We are thankful for our agency and all that they are doing above and beyond what is required.
As we got off the phone today, a scripture verse came to mind, and it was like a record, playing over and over and over. The verse is this: And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:5
What is our agency doing in all of this? First, as we have said before, they are transparent, they dot ever I and cross every T. But they are doing even more and we are pleased - they are proactive and going above and beyond what is required. So what are they doing? About a month ago, they hired their own investigator who investigates every single referral that the agency receives before the referral even gets to the waiting family. What does that mean? The investigator goes to where the child was from, ensures he/she is an orphan, gathers all info on the child, etc...etc...
Our agency has quit working with orphanages where they have sensed potential problems with children not being true orphans or where they have seen "red flags" come up
Our agency has had a nurse on staff to help with the children...but now they have hired a doctor. Can I tell you what kind of peace of mind this brings?
We did ask about our declining the referral we were presented in January and if that has any impact on our wait. We were assured, with great compassion, that there is no negative impact on refusing a referral. That was a peace for us too. We explained just how difficult it was to have to say no - why we said no - and we were put at ease, and were told that the "standard wait time" is 6-12 months for the specific age range we are wanting.
We closed our conference call with Will praying. It was a great call. We were given a lot of peace that we didn't have before. We are thankful for our agency and all that they are doing above and beyond what is required.
As we got off the phone today, a scripture verse came to mind, and it was like a record, playing over and over and over. The verse is this: And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:5
We have a renewed feeling as we end the day. A feeling of peace. Hope. And a lot of thankfulness.
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