update...correction

We are still waiting to hear about a court date. Our agency is notified of court dates on Wednesdays so we are hoping to hear tomorrow. It does look like we will travel twice. The first trip will be to meet the baby and appear in court to tell the judge in person that we do want to adopt her. Then we will come home without her and travel approximately 7 weeks later to bring her home. We think each trip will be about a week long. There are many unknowns right now, because we are in the first group of families from our agency that are having to travel twice. Before we travel, there will be a court date in which our case will be presented by our agency. The biggest question is how soon we will travel for our court date once that first date is completed. We are hoping that we will travel before the recess which is believed to start on August 6th. If we don't get to appear in court before the recess, we will have to wait until October for our second court date. If both court dates occur before the recess, we can travel during the recess to bring her home. Our prayer is that we pass court quickly and then travel before the recess. We want our sweet little girl home before her first birthday which is October 24th. Please continue to pray with us that it will be God's will for our case to start to move quickly. We sent in our first application on September 15, 2008. I never dreamed the process would take 2 years. I have learned a lot during the wait, but I am so ready to have her in our arms. Traveling twice does make me anxious for several reasons. Our kids are already worried about us being gone so I know two trips will be harder on them. Also, I am sad that we will meet and love on our little girl and then have to leave her for 7-8 weeks. I think waiting is difficult now...I can't imagine how difficult it will be once we have held her. Lastly, the financial burden is also a stress, but we have seen God provide over and over in this process. I am working on a little fundraiser. I am making some Ethiopian cross necklaces with pretty beads. I'll post pictures soon. Thank you for your continued prayers....

papers submitted to court!!

Just wanted to let you know that our papers were submitted to court today. We are one step closer and I am SOOOOO happy! I'll let you know when we have a date so you can pray that we pass the first time. Courts will close the beginning of August so we hope and pray that we pass court before the recess and then it looks like we will only travel once. Right now, CWA families are traveling about 7 weeks after they pass court. Could she be in our arms by the end of August?

our friends met her!!

I was so excited to hear Sunday morning that our friends met our baby. :) They were able to hold her and love on her and tell her "mommy and daddy are coming soon". This family goes to school and church with us and they are adopting an eight year old girl and bringing her home Friday. Amazingly she and our baby ended up in the same room at the foster home. Usually babies are in one area and the older girls are somewhere else. But our friend said that our little one was sleeping in the big girl room in a toddler bed. I hope she will like her crib for a while once she is home. I think being with the older girls will help prepare her to be a little sister once she is home. Our friends said she was beautiful and she laughed when they talked to her. Love it!! I can't imagine how I will feel when I see our friends at the airport with their daughter who we have prayed home since last summer. What a wonderful sight that will be!! Hoping to hear about a court date soon....

hoping for fast timelines

Our baby was moved to Addis to the CWA foster home. This will be her last destination until we bring her home. We are hoping that this may mean that we will get a court date soon. There is still a possibility that we will only travel once. There has been some talk about allowing families to travel only once until after the recess in August and September. Oh, how I hope that we make the deadline!! Two great things about her being moved to Addis...we get pictures and updates more frequently and our friends who leave tomorrow to go get their precious daughter will get to meet our little girl. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to have my friend go and hold her and see her and be able to describe her to me. We have walked this journey together and to have her love on her before we do is just awesome!! For now I am falling in love with her sweet eyes and anticipating the day we get to travel. Thanks for your continued prayers....

peace and love

Just wanted you all to know that we are finding peace in this change in our adoption process. God has chosen a special little girl to be our daughter and she has an easy face to fall in love with quickly. :) Her 2nd medicals have been completed and she appears to be healthy. Developmentally she is doing all the things that a 6 month old should be doing...making sounds, sitting up, grasping for toys, recognizing her nannies. We also have heard that she is sweet, snuggly and interactive. All of these descriptions just make us want to get to her even quicker. I'm thinking we will end up traveling twice, but there are still two more days to get our papers submitted to court. I can deal with the two trips...I'm just hoping things move quickly for us. We just don't have a lot more WAIT in us. I can't wait for all of you to see her...for now, trust me, she's a cutie. Our good friends, the Garretts, are in Ethiopia now and I have thought about them constantly. You can see their journey by looking at my list of favorites (the garrett journey). Our baby will be best friends with their little girl! Thanks for your continued prayers. Hoping to give you a court date soon....

letting go and finding hope all in one week

This has been a very difficult week...and it is only Wednesday. On Monday, we started the week off again with much hope that this may be the week that our case moves forward (it's been almost 6 months since our referral). Instead our referral has fallen through...we were heartbroken. We have prayed for this little girl for months and in our hearts, we already loved her as our daughter. As we tried to trust God, He immediately gave us a new referral. Those of you who have walked this journey know that can only happen when God does it!!! Referrals do not come quickly and this one came within one hour of us accepting a new path. Unbelievable! So now we are processing this change in our journey. We are grieving one and celebrating another who needs us to be her family now. I'm sure it will take us a while. The bottom line is that both girls belong to God first and we have to trust Him as He leads us. Hopefully, things will move quickly for us. Our new little girl is in a region that seems to get things done much quicker. We will let you know when we have a court date. If our papers are filed before May 7th we will only travel once. Our caseworker says that will probably not happen, but after seeing God work yesterday, we will just wait and see. Please continue to pray for us.

waiting is hard to do!!!

Still waiting for some good news. The hold is still in place and our little girl turned 7 months yesterday. :( She has gained 3 pounds in a month and a half so we were happy to hear that. She is still only in the 5th percentile. We are starting off another week with great hope. We have been told that the letter should arrive any day telling our orphanage that they can resume work. If we are able to get our papers submitted to court by May 9th, then we will only travel once. If our papers are submitted after May 9th, we will have to make two trips. This would be very difficult emotionally and financially, but we are trusting God's plan for this adoption. All we can do right now is HOPE. We hope you had a special Easter with your family. We promise to update once we hear anything....