"I will not leave you as orphans..." - John 14:18
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Wanna see our house?

What a blessing!


And more scheduled pick-ups to come...  
Hard work?  Absolutely.  
I can't help but laugh at the thought of the current state of our home!!  The garage sale has taken over!  In fact, we look like hoarders!! Stuff is EVERYWHERE...but what provision!!  God truly is faithful to provide!


A heartfelt thank you to all of you who have donated thus far!!

Remember, our adoption garage sale will be on June 25th and 26th...

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Global Orphan Crisis


The worldwide orphan crisis is a crisis indeed - one which goes often unnoticed or forgotten.  What is God calling you to do for these children in need?

To see this image in enlarged PDF form, click here.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Garage Sale Reminder...

Just a reminder...

It's only five more weeks until our garage sale!!

We have been blessed with many donations, and we can't wait for our adoption garage sale!  Come join us on June 25th and 26th to find your treasures...

We'll also be having a bake sale and our girls will be running the lemonade stand!

See you there!

The Coombs Family

Saturday, May 14, 2011

May Wait List Numbers and Possible Extension of Wait Time



The numbers are in for the month of May!  


What does this mean?  


Well, as I believe we mentioned before, we're currently in the waiting phase of our adoption.  Presently, we're on three different wait lists, one for a boy, one for a girl, and one for siblings (twins).  We are updated monthly as to where we are on these lists, and once we're at the top of the list, we'll receive our referral! 


A couple things to take into account, however, when looking at these numbers:
1. Those in front of us on each list aren't necessarily "competing" (for lack of a better word) with us for a referral.  Each family on the list has different parameters for the child they're looking for.  Some, for example, are looking for an older child.  Consequently, only those whose parameters match ours are technically ahead of us (the number of which is not known). 
2. Many families, like us, are on multiple lists, so when a family receives a referral, they're taken off of all lists.


So, as you can see, the numbers, while large, aren't as daunting as they first appear.  


We have yet to give any official numbers on our blog, so we'll be telling you both where we currently stand as well as where we began on April 4, 2011.  



Girl:
April - 93
May - 81
Boy:
April - 73
May - 64
Siblings:
April - 41
May - 34

Though not surprising considering the recent changes to the international adoption system within Ethiopia, we also learned this month that our wait time may increase.  Here's an exerpt explaining this possibility written by our case worker:
"Also, this month we did want to begin preparing families that your time on the waitlist from completing your dossier to the time of referral may extend up to 18 months.  Now, to clarify we are not currently experiencing this long of a wait time.  In fact, our most recently placed family open to an infant girl waited just over 11 months to be referred and our recently placed family open to an infant boy waited just about 10 months to be referred. However, as we discussed in our monthly calls in March, we do want to prepare families that due to the level of scrutiny happening on every level of the adoption process for each child in Ethiopia, it is possible that wait times could increase.  As always, please remember these wait times are simply estimates and can change depending on how we see adoptions processed, especially over the next 6 months.  At this time, along with the rest of the adoption community, we are still waiting to see how MOWCYA and the Ethiopian courts will continue to process adoptions moving forward.  However, we believe the only way to fully understand the flow of adoptions, changes or improvements to the system there is to watch and experience our current cases go through this process.  We want to reiterate again that we desire to be completely transparent with you, but we cannot fully know the internal operations of the Ethiopian government and how they implement or don’t implement changes from one day to the next.  In adoption, our best indication of changes or timelines will always be based on what we are actually experiencing with our cases, so hang tight with us!"
Though it is not our desire for our adoption to take longer than we had originally hoped, we know, ultimately, that God is in control, and that we will be united with our child(ren) in His perfect timing.  He is a God of providence, and He is faithful to orchestrate everything into His perfect will.  And it is His will that we want above all.  

Have an amazing day!!