GOOD MORNING!! Can you tell I slept-in today?? I wasn't sure I was going to blog today, being Saturday and all. But I knew my mom would be ready for another entry. She is a faithful reader. My mom and the rest of my family live in California where I was born and raised. I have been in Illinois for about eight years! We have made a couple of trips back but unfortunately we don't get there as frequently as we would like. I talk to my mom often and I share just about everything but a lot of these details I've kept to myself. Today's entry might be a little longer than the others because it is one of the WOW's of this whole process. Believe me, there have been many WOWs but today's is just awesome! Enjoy!

I left off sharing my reservations...... Although we decided on Ethiopia we had yet to decide on an agency. We sent out inquiries to many and received info from most of them. But there was one packet that arrived before all the rest. It was All God's Children International (AGCI). I was thoroughly impressed with their packet. A CD and a book was included with a ton of information. The book was written by the woman who founded this agency with her husband and in some ways was a personal diary of her own. She had been in the process of adopting and was facing all the ups and downs. A name came to her one day, Hannah, which means 'God's Grace'. This is what piqued my curiosity about the origin of the name Aleya. By the time I finished this book I felt at peace about this agency. But by this time many other packets were coming in. Oh the confusion! The cost of an international adoption for Ethiopia was about the same for most agencies. But AGCI required a larger sum up front. Yikes! Other agencies had more manageable fee intervals, which for Steve was a good thing. I just didn't get a good vibe from them. I kept looking at the AGCI packet and tried to convince Steve that this is the one I really felt comfortable with. But the up front numbers were scary and Steve was not convinced. He was drawn to another one and it was no surprise that we had a difference of opinion. The more seriously he thought of this particular agency the more panicked I became. That vibe I felt, got stronger. I prayed. I asked Steve if he would read the book from AGCI before making a decision. He read it. He liked it. BUT he wasn't persuaded. We researched "his" agency a little more. It sounded 'fishy'. He didn't like the vibe he was getting and agreed on AGCI. Thank you Jesus!! The good part is coming up!

A couple of weeks went by and life went on as usual. Alexa was at a friend's house, Aubrey Thomson, and was ready to be picked up. Steve arrived at the Thomson's and spoke to Aubrey's mom, Jennifer. Jennifer said, "Alexa told us you are adopting from Ethiopia!" She went on to tell him that Sue and Kevin Krippel were in the process of adopting a brother and sister from Ethiopia! They were scheduled to pick them up from Addis Ababa in a couple of weeks!

We know the Krippels but didn't know of their adoption. We attended the same church at one time and saw them around town every now and then. As a matter of fact, Sue Krippel was the first person I met when we arrived in Illinois! I met her at the Christian school in town where I signed Alexa up for classes. I remember going to Wal-Mart (our town's mall, hehe!) and someone called out, "Hi Tina!" I thought, "Who in the world knows me here?" It was Sue!! She remembered my name! I love this town!

I called Sue the day after Jennifer told us about their adoption. I think she was expecting my call. She was ready for all my questions. She had some of her own. She asked, "What agency are you going with?" I told her we decided on AGCI which is based in Oregon. She said, "That is the agency that we used." I was quiet. I just couldn't speak. My voice quivered no matter how I tried to compose myself. All I could get out at that moment was, "Are you serious?" She went on to tell me that her children were waiting for them at Hannah's Hope. The same orphanage or 'care home' our child would come from. She asked another question, "Who is doing you home study?" I told her, "Baptist Children's Home and Family Services in Mt. Vernon, which is three hours away." She said, "We went with them too." Out of the hundreds of agencies and the many countries we just happened to pick the same!!

Steve came home and I told him about the conversation and we both wept happy tears. My reservations of our child "fitting in" in our community....check. God knew of my reservations and it was as if He said, "Don't worry, I have that covered." Needless to say, we were convinced that AGCI was the right choice. Divine.

By the way, the Krippel family have a blog of their own if you would like to see pictures of their family. Check out the link on the sidebar. I love the Starfish story they have in their sidebar. check it out.

Below is a picture of Selamawit, the child that we sponsor in Ethiopia through Compassion International. Isn't she a beauty??

Blessings