Praying for a Court Date

I told my husband and daughter yesterday that I feel like this is our week! I don't know why I said that, but that made me get a text from my daughter at school today, asking if I'd heard anything yet! I said, "not yet", which she responded "Grrr..."

Then,I jokingly said, "If you are serious about wanting to adopt one day, you may want to start on your paperwork now!" Okay, keep in mind that she is a junior in high school. She responded with "Can I?"

Hmmm...Knowing her, that will be her new mission. She still has Prom in a couple of weeks!

Every Sunday, we sit in church and we leave saying we can't wait to have our little guy with us! The wait is so agonizing! Anyone who has ever adopted, and those in the process know what I mean.

Praying for a court date...and others to pass court this week!

A Little Update

I haven't had much to talk about lately. I was waiting for any update on our little guy. Well, today I received some new photos...none of which I am allowed to post, unfortunately. They were so adorable and answered some of our questions. "Does he know about us yet?" Well, he is pictured looking through the photo album we sent introducing ourselves. He is also wearing a Spiderman shirt we sent and holding the birthday gift we sent him! He looks happy and very content! We can't ask for more than that!

We realized that he is smaller than anticipated. The shirt we sent was an "Underoo", size 7/8, and we expected it to be tight-fitting. Instead, it is kinda long and a bit baggy! Oops! Hmmm...I'm thinking the other clothes we got him are going to be enormous! The great thing is, he can only grow UP!

Seeing our things all the way over there seems quite remarkable. It makes this entire event very real, a bit scary and tremendously exciting!

I am praying for all the upcoming court and travel dates! Hope to join in soon!

Success!

We just received a call that our dossier is at HH!! Yea! That was so fast! Our little guy has received the remaining medical tests and it all looks great! With a little prayer (maybe a lot) and our confidence in AGCI, everything is falling into place.

As this school year wraps up, we can distract ourselves with Prom plans and our son finishing his freshman year at college! Life still goes on. Soon, we will all be together...

We are now focusing our attention on learning Amharic phrases, deciding if we should add an American name to his beautiful Ethiopian name, planning for summer activities to help him make buddies and practicing sleepless nights...uh, just in case.

Like my hubby says, it keeps life interesting when you veer off the path of least resistance. We are so looking forward to making this trip to Ethiopia!

Another Step Towards Bringing Our Boy Home!

I am optimistic that things are getting back on track. Our dossier was back from D.C. in less than a week and forwarded to Ethiopia! It is being closely tracked by several people to make sure it arrives. In the meantime, we hope the translation will be done shortly and maybe we can be submitted for a court date soon? I know it's a rush to get approved before the August 4th court closure date in Ethiopia, but I don't see why it wouldn't happen? Today, we received our USCIS approval letter. That's the final piece of paperwork, on our end, to be completed. (For my friends and family reading this, that is the immigration letter that allows us to obtain a visa to bring our boy home!)

The next thing is receiving a court date and passing. Then, we would travel to pick him up! I am praying all things keep moving along, and he is settling in nicely at HH. I am doing lots of reading and preparing myself for having a young child in the home again. I think we are all a little nervous and excited. I hope he will be happy here.

My Eyes Have Been Opened

This adoption process has opened my eyes to a whole new world! Before September of last year, I thought people only adopted from Russia, Guatemala, China and Korea. I had never really known anything about Ethiopia. Being an American born Puerto Rican/Japanese and having spent my childhood from one side of the world to the next,I thought I was pretty exposed to different cultures. This journey has opened up my world!

Since September'08, I knew nothing of Ethiopia, its culture, Africa, adoption and on and on...Almost every time my husband flies, he finds himself meeting people who relate to our journey in some way. A few weeks ago, he ran into an old friend who just returned from Uganda with two adopted babies. His babies had been left on the road, dying of malaria. He and his wife brought them to Minnesota!

Next, my husband meets my new friend Mona, who moved from Addis over 6 years ago and who will be my saving grace in our transition of our little boy. She tells me she lives in an entire neighborhood of Ethiopian people (less than 10 minutes away)and I have already had lunch with her in her neighborhood restaurant! Yes, I have eaten injera and wat. I love ethnic food of all kinds. Wasn't too crazy about the injera (wet, spongy, bread), but the wat we had (ours was lamb) was awesome! The people were so nice, and I was reminded that Ethiopians shake hands by touching the back of their closed hands together. I wonder if that is because they eat with their hands? I thought it was cute that before we started to eat, Mona said "Shall we wash?" Now, I know why.

Today, my husband flies with a beautiful Ethiopian flight attendant from Addis Ababa! He found out she is a Wisconsin grad and Badger fan, and like every Wisconsin Alumni, forever dreams to do it all over again. Our son is just now building some of those memories...ones I may never want to know about...

We have made it our goal to each learn 5 Amharic phrases and teach them to each other. This way we will each know at least 15 phrases, which is better than none. Mona volunteered to be our go-between and teach me to make Ethiopian food. Otherwise, she says she will have us to dinner! What a blessing.

I have always thought that parenting was an adventure, but this is going to be a ride!

Good News Monday!

I feel like I am taking baby steps in this process, but it's progression nonetheless! I just received a call from our caseworker. Our little boy has finally moved in to HH! She says he is very excited to be there and is settling in! Maybe this isn't all that exciting for some, but for me, it means that he is under the watchful care of the staff at HH and to anyone who knows of this place, that is a blessed thing.

I am so grateful that the staff at AGCI has been so helpful in getting us back on track as quickly as possible. We are in great hands!

I Love This Video! Ethiopian Children