Thanks

Thanks so much for all of the prayers and comments. Today was much better. Things still aren't completely taken care of, but this is a good start. We received a recommendation letter from a doctor here which we took to the Ministry of Women, Youth, and Children's Affairs in the hopes of hurrying along their letter to the court so that the judge will see us. After waiting for for the person in charge at the MOWYCA office, we were told that they would write the letter, but not until Monday.

This is good news, but will require us to change our flight to stay a few more days here in Ethiopia. Please continue to pray that the letter will actually be sent on Monday, that the judge will agree to see us, and that we will pass. Once all that happens,the children will officially be ours. We will need to return for our US Embassy appointment in a month or so, but that time we will be able to bring them both back with us. Thanks again for your continued prayers. We look forward to sharing pictures of our boys soon.

First Bad Day in Ethiopia

We are sorry to be posting about something negative since our trip up until now has been nothing less than amazing. We will have more about that later, but right now we would really appreciate your prayers.

Today started on an exciting note as we headed to court to legally be granted custody of the children. We met a number of other adoptive families, but as the morning wore on and the waiting room full of people slowly emptied we started to think there might be a problem. It turns out there was. For some reason, the judge refused to see us. We were told that our adoption file is currently closed and will not reopen until we receive our MOWYCA letter. For the past few months, many families have successfully passed court without the letter and have received it a month or two later. Apparently the government has changed their policy without warning and we are the first to experience this.

We are still trying to pull some strings and maybe get the letter hurried along, but even that is looking a bit unlikely. We are scheduled to fly back on Saturday, but we may need to extend our stay in order to go to court next week. Unfortunately, we may just have to return home without going to court and come back after the court has received the MOWYCA letter, which may not be for a couple of months still. Please pray for a successful day tomorrow as we try to get the letter that we need. Thanks.

We Made It

After many hours in the air we have safely arrived in Addis Ababa. We had no problems at all with our connecting flight, getting visas, changing money, or navigating 2 foreign airports. All of our luggage arrived safely as well. The only thing I can think of that went wrong is when we got to our hotel, the room they gave us hadn't been cleaned since the previous guests left. But they simply moved us to another room, so no problems there. We do have wireless Internet here at our hotel, but out laptop has malfunctioned and will connect to the network but not to the Internet. If someone has a suggestion for fixing that, drop us a comment. Otherwise we will do a couple of short posts using my iPhone and save the pictures and other details until we get back. Thanks for your prayers. A few hours of sleep and then a whole new adventure tomorrow!

Nesting!

Despite having an extensive to-do list before we leave, I thought it would be a good idea to start some projects this week.  I was trying to make the days so full, that they would zoom by.  It’s sort of working…

My parents (soon to be grandparents!!) came down for the action. 

Thanks to my wonderful husband, who hung up the beadboard and the gutter/book ledge.  It turned out great!

One Week!

It is hard to believe that one week from today we will be in the air and on our way to meet our boys. We have kept pretty busy the last few weeks putting together a picture book for each of the boys, getting gifts for their caretakers, collecting our final round of notarized documents, gathering as much formula as we can to donate to the orphanages, and getting immunizations and prescriptions for yellow fever, typhoid, and malaria. Now comes the task of packing everything (and trying to stay under the 50 pound weight limit). We are also looking forward to getting out of this triple-digit Texas heat and enjoying the moderate 50's, 60's and 70's of the Ethiopian rainy season. After spending a week there with our boys, I'm not sure we'll want to come back!

We're Going To Ethiopia!

We got the call today! Well, email actually (it is Saturday after all). We are currently on vacation visiting family in Washington DC and had just finished having dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant, of all places. I checked our email on my iPhone after we left and as soon as I mentioned it Joy started screaming (and hasn't stopped yet)!!!

We don't have all the details yet, but we do know that our court date will be July 21. That means that this time next month we will be in Ethiopia meeting our kids for the first time! We expect a call from our agency on Monday to give us more information. Looks like we will have a lot to get done in the next month, but I can't think of a better Father's Day present.

Thank You!

We are so grateful for having such wonderful friends and family members in our lives! The flood of loving phone calls, emails, facebook messages, and blog comments have made this awesome experience even more unforgettable. Thanks to everyone (especially to those of you who started screaming when you found out)!

Our paperwork was submitted to Ethiopian courts yesterday, so our next stage of waiting has officially begun! In 4 to 8 weeks we should have an assigned court date. We are praying for a court date before the court closure.

The Post You've Been Waiting For!

This week held even bigger surprises than the ones we talked about in our last post!

On Thursday afternoon, May 19th, (a day now forever burned into my memories) I got a call at school from our adoption agency that started something like this, "Sorry to be calling you at work, but I just wanted to make sure I got a hold of you..." The rest of the conversation was a blur. I remember thinking, "what? can this really be our referrals? is there any other reason AAI would be calling me at work? oops, I need to be listening!" The conversation lasted about 40 minutes, which has been yet another patience building exercise, because the entire time my only desire was to hang up, call Jon, and scream hysterically into the phone.

In two emails and about 20 attachments we have been getting to know our two sons. Asnake (meaning he outshone, outclassed, overshadowed, or became better than others) is a beautiful 9 month old boy who we having seen laying on Strawberry Shortcake sheets with big, alert eyes. His hands are out stretched toward the camera as if inviting us to reach down and begin playing with him. Soon, baby, soon!

The second email highlighted our older son, Eskinder (meaning defender of mankind) an irresistible 2 1/2 year old. In my favorite picture of him, Eskinder is clutching his name to his chest with a solemn and intense look on his face as if to say, "This is me! Don't forget me! I am Eskinder!". We won't. I also love zooming in on the bottom of his picture to look at his little toes in his yellow flip-flops.

The big question everyone asks is, what next? The answer is more waiting! (I bet you already knew that, didn't you?) We will wait 4 to 8 weeks to be assigned a court date that could be 1-3 months out from that point. Courts also close from sometime in August until late September or October. We may be able to complete the first trip before courts close (we are praying for a date before the closure), but it may be more likely that we would make our first trip after they re-open.

We are praising God about these boys, and have had a wonderful weekend calling friends and family with the good news. We are learning slowly that we need to stop making predictions and plans and let God work His story in His time. He is faithful.

Surprise!

Recent phone conversation from someone we hadn't talked to in 8 years, "How would you feel if we sent you $5,000?"

From the fifth grade teacher at my school, "Do you care if I engage my students in a service project to raise money for adoption?"

God, you are cool.

Week In Review

Oh, “the list”. If you are an adoptive parent, you may be able to relate to the obsessive quality it takes on in your life. Our wonderful adoption agency puts up monthly stats for AAI families to see regarding referrals, court dates, and the list of requests from waiting families. They are awesome about relaying facts only, and not getting swept away in speculation. We are also known to read any Ethiopian adoption blog we can find, especially families with AAI.

I experienced a major roller coaster of emotions last week, when a friend’s (I have actually never met her, but anyone on this journey is considered as much in my mind) blog stated that 3 referrals had been given. Needless to say I let my imagination run wild, thinking we were now number five. My heart soared as I thought about how soon it could be. My level-headed husband merely kissed me good night and said he wasn’t getting his hopes up until we heard from AAI. We did find out the next day that we indeed had moved up (yay!), but 2 of the 3 referrals were for families “behind” us on the list. Many of the families ahead of us on the list desire girls, or two kids, and these families behind us received infant boys. If families intend on adopting 2 kids, the Ethiopian government states that they must be 9 months apart, unless twins, and these little guys were not. My brain could process the reasons why those boys were not intended for us, and I knew that God had placed those babes for a reason, but my heart was broken. I was truly surprised by the intensity of my emotions, which of course, only made me more emotional. I found it hard to rejoice that 2 orphans were receiving families, when I wanted so badly for them to call our house home.

The next day I picked up a book by Jeff Manion called “The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions”. I had wanted to read this book for almost a year, but I believe God was waiting to place it into my hands until now. It’s a great book that spoke to me about calling out to God in honest ways during difficult situations. I really felt like God was soothing me through the words of the author and reassuring me that He continues to work out all things for good. I really need to be keeping a better prayer journal, because I have been truly amazed to see God’s hand time and time again in our adoption. He was able to get my heart and brain back on the same page.

We are now officially number 6 on the list, because along with the 3 referrals last week, one also happened yesterday. We are thankful for referrals, babies getting families, and God’s help in the easy and the hard.