Retreat! Retreat!

My military background just couldn't resist calling this post "Retreat!"  Tomorrow I am headed to Buford, Georgia (just north of Atlanta) to an amazing retreat for all of us adoptive mommas.  The retreat is put on by Created for Care and they are heaven-sent.  I am looking forward to some time with like minded ladies who have walked or who are walking the same path as me. . . down the road of adoption.  Lord knows I also need sometime to rest and regroup.  And get my faith recharged. . . . . Adoption is a tough road with so many ups and downs.  I am just grateful to have the opportunity to make some new friends and learn so much.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you all have a great weekend!  Attached is an amazing video from two orphanages in the Congo.  Our Addison is at one of them and is actually in the video.  Movie star already!  :0)

All's quiet on the Congolese front. . . . .

Well, according to our adoption timeline, we have not had an update on the progress of bringing Addison home since 09 November 2012. . . .   Does no news mean good news or does it mean no movement?  I think the latter and it is excruciating!  Lots of people have asked the million dollar question, "What's the hold up?"  I wish I knew because then I would be shouting it from the rooftops so "we" (adoptive families) could come up with a solution.

We are no strangers to waiting.  Early in our marriage, Darin and I suffered two miscarriages.  It was extremely difficult!  We wondered what happened, what did we do wrong and would we ever become parents.  So, God's Plan has been hard for me to handle.  After our second miscarriage I was furious to my core.  I questioned my relationship with God.  How could He?  Why would He?  Where was He?  When would He?  Tough questions to wrestle with daily.  Then I came across this book by one of my favorite people, Dr. James Dobson; When God Doesn't Make Sense.  By the end of the book, I was renewed.  I felt restored.  Even though I did not fully understand why, I knew that I had to let go and TRUST HIM.  He knew what was in our future a very long time ago.  I just needed to LET IT GO!  Those of you that know me know how difficult that is for me.  I'm like a dog with it's bone. . . . I'm NOT letting go!  I also discovered that in the end, I would know the why and be reunited with my angels.  That gave me great peace.  He let me know that in His time, we would be parents.  A little over a year after we lost our second baby, we were pregnant with our oldest son. 

What I'm trying to get at is, our path to parenthood has not been easy.  Neither will our path to bring home Addi.    In HIS time, we will get news.  In HIS time, we will bring her home.  It's tough. . . . . but, it will be RIGHT.

Why blog?

It was a busy weekend full of soccer.  Our oldest son plays with a premier club and travels statewide to play in league games.  So, this means lots of trips to the Seattle area.  However, yesterday we were in Olympia.  They did great; won 4-1!  GO SHADOW!! 

Lots of people, including myself, have asked, "Why do a blog?"  At first I wasn't sure I wanted to.  I wasn't sure that I wanted to have our life on blast with whoever reads it.  Then after some careful consideration, I thought, I want to get in touch with other families who are in the exact same spot as us.  I want to help, learn, educate, talk with, cry with, support these families.  By no stretch of the imagination am I an expert on adoption.  This is our first!  I just saw this as a means to get our story out there and to possibly talk with others who knew what we were going through.  Besides, to me writing is cathartic.  This may keep my mind a little occupied as we wait. . . . . painfully wait to bring our baby girl home.

I would like to set up a few more tabs.  Once I figure out how to do it, I will.  :0)  I want to set up a tab for other adoptive families to leave their info, one for some great resources, and one to highlight the crisis in the Congo.  Not many people are aware of how desperate things are there.  So, be looking for that!  If anyone knows how to make a "Chipin" meter, let me know.  I would like to show our fundraising progress on here too!  :0)

Some have asked to see pictures of Addison.  I'm sorry, but I cannot do that.  We signed a confidentiality agreement in May that we would protect her identity until she is legally ours.  I can assure you that she is a beauty!!  :0)

I hope everyone has a great week.  I will be working on these tabs.

It's only just begun. . . sort of

Today I thought, gee, wouldn't be nice to set up a blog about our adoption.  I wonder how you do that?  And them, wham!  Here we are.  To say that I am a novice to blogs is an understatement.  I have read a couple of them and marveled at how "techie" the author was and thinking, "I wonder if I can do that?"  And so it begins. . .

I guess I should begin by introducing ourselves. . . .   We are the Spangler family and we live in a small town just outside of Spokane, Washington.  We have two bio sons, ages 16 (Holy cow!!) and 9.  We have been married for 19 years.  Darin works as a civilian government employee on a nearby military installation and I (April) am a substitute elementary school teacher.  We have lived in Spokane for approximately six years. We have talked about adoption since early in our marriage, but just never felt the calling.  We would place it on the back burner as we moved about with the Air Force and when we had our sons.  It was always in the back of our minds, though.  Once we moved to Spokane, adoption really kept calling me.  I wondered where our child would come from (domestic, foster-care, or international).  I wondered what we would be able to afford when it came to the adoption costs.  I also wondered when it would be the right time.  Somewhere, somehow, I came across the Rainbow Kids website and began to "look".  One day, I came across this picture of a beautiful child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and I knew as sure as the sun rises, that I had seen this child before.  I didn't know where, but I knew I had seen her and I knew that she was meant to be ours.   I showed my husband and told him how I had seen her before.  He was skeptical at first and wanted me to make some calls to see if it was even possible for us to adopt her.  I called the number that was listed and was told that, yes, it was possible.  I did a google search on agencies in our state that could do our home study and was called the following day to set up our first home visit.  The ball was rolling!  After that, everything else just kind of fell into place.  And now, here we are, nine months in to our adoption process.  We are currently awaiting a court date.

Now a little about our girl . . .  She was abandoned at a public market and was taken in by an orphanage in November 2011.  She is approximately three years old now.  Since there is no information (no birth certificate) we do not know her real age or her birthdate.  She became ill with a fever not long after she arrived at the orphanage and was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with a ganglion cyst under her jaw which tested positive for tuberculosis.  She was and is being treated for Tb.  Her medical report says that she is otherwise healthy. 

I guess this where I will leave off for now. . . . .