2nd Trip to Ethiopia!

I'll be leaving early in the morning for Ethiopia and arriving there Thursday morning (ET time). I am so excited and can't wait to see Beri! Hope we receive our clearance from the Embassy soon! Her room is (and has been) all ready for her- hope she likes it! Posted some pics below. Thanks again for all the well  wishes and support- can't wait for her to meet everyone once we're home and settled :)

Submitted to Embassy!!!

After passing court it generally takes about a month or so before all of the documents (child's new birth certificate, passport, embassy medical exam, etc.) are ready for a case to be submitted to embassy. There was a typo on ONE of our documents, which took over 3 weeks to get corrected. BUT, our file was submitted to the Embassy on June 22nd :) Yeah- finally!!!!! This is the last step before being able to bring Bereket home. Once they review and approve our file they will send us an email letting us know we are cleared for travel and give us a few options of dates to choose from for our interview appointment with them. We are hoping to hear from them this week or next and travel within the next few weeks. We are feeling so very close now!!! 

Words/phrases that do not sit well with

us since starting the adoption process:

it could take anywhere from_____ to______

government

it's hard to say

timeframe

that's not something we can predict

I'm sorry

approximately

re-do

amount due

court

"minor" delay

we appreciate your patience

fees

we will let you know

paperwork

waiting

unfortunately

notarize

USCIS (Immigration)

approval

documents

and our all time favorite (regarding "timeframes"): ABOUT

...And Beri Makes Three :)

On May 3rd, our case went to court in Ethiopia and we legally became the very, very proud parents of Bereket!!! We have officially "passed" court and should be able to go and get our little girl soon! Thank you everyone for keeping us in your thoughts! We are so happy & excited to FINALLY be able to share this wonderful news with you! 

Back from Ethiopia!

We got back from Ethiopia just over a month ago and words can not describe how awesome it was to finally meet B and hold her!!! She is the most amazing little girl! She is so affectionate, sweet and has a very fun-loving, easygoing personality. We arrived in Ethiopia on Wednesday, Feb. 23rd, in the evening. We were told on Thursday morning that our case had been submitted to court the day before- yeah!!! We were in complete shock, as we did not think they were going to be able to submit it for a few more months. Finding this out just minutes before meeting B for the very first time, made for a very emotional day... in a good way though :) They then told us they were going to see if the judge could have us come in to fulfill our court appearance while we were there, also great news! We ended up doing this on Monday, Feb. 28th. Our meeting with the judge only lasted a few minutes and went really well. She told us she would have our next court date scheduled (where our case will be reviewed and everything will hopefully be finalized). After a few weeks of being home, we found out that this court date would take place in the end of April, so we are anxiously waiting for this day to come now! If all goes well, we should hopefully be able to return 4-6 weeks after "passing" court for our embassy appointment & to pick her up. There can be any number of reasons why we would not "pass" court, which would then cause further delays until we ultimately do. We are missing her like crazy and just holding onto any hope that we can right now that we will not get caught in any further delays. Hoping the next update will be good news & she will officially be ours!

Off to Ethiopia!

Tomorrow we leave for Ethiopia & are just feeling a mix of emotions right now! Our case was supposed to be submitted to court in the end of January, where we most likely would have gone for our court date sometime in March. Instead, we found out a few weeks ago that our case was not submitted and can not be until an additional document is received that is just now being required. It could take weeks or months to obtain this document. Once again, our spirits crushed. So, we made the decision to go to Ethiopia to meet B now b/c we really don't want to wait that much longer to do so! It is bittersweet. The bitter being we would rather be going for court, as we would then be 1 step closer to bringing her home. The sweet, finally being able to meet her & hold her! We can't wait for this & are so excited! We have been picturing this moment in our heads for the past year, since we were matched with B & received our first picture of her. Now, we will experience it in just a few short days! Hoping they will be able to get this last document quickly so our case can then be submitted to court! Will keep you posted!

Smooth Sailing Ahead???

We are still not allowed to post any pictures or B's full name until we pass court, so we are just referring to her as B on this blog until we do! 

We found out over the past few weeks that there were several more documents that needed to be changed or updated than originally expected :( Thought we were good to go, so we were pretty disappointed to find out how much had to be re-done! We ended up having to re-do our entire home study that was originally done with our first agency & we have also had to re-do our entire dossier too! However, we're happy to report that we flew through it 2nd time around & it is all completed now!!! Once we receive approval from the state for our new home study, our dossier will be on its way back to Ethiopia & filed for court. Hoping to receive that approval sometime this week. They are unable to predict any type of time frame for court until this is all completed. We did receive several new pictures and videos of her (at the new foster care center) and she is smiling & looks to be very content! Such a relief to see! She started pre-school classes there where she is learning numbers, the alphabet and some basic English. 

We sent a care package to B back in July (the photo with the Dora backpack, photo book of our home & family, doll, & blankie). We also added some candy, coloring books, crayons, stickers, little ball and bracelet with her name on it. We have pictures & video of her receiving it & our previous director said she loved it! The children are supposed to receive a care package with a t-shirt, photo book and other small toys when they arrive at the new foster orphanage she is at now. It all has to fit into a gallon size Ziploc bag. So, we made another photo book and had a t-shirt made for her. We also added some more crayons & a coloring pad, a princess doll, harmonica, velcro mitts & ball, stickers & some more candy. We were able to get it all smushed in there too! She will be receiving it very soon :)

So, that is where we are at with things. We've jumped over some fairly large hurdles over the past couple of months & are hoping that no more issues arise! We will continue to post any updates we receive. Selam! ("peace be upon you" in Amharic)

1st Care Package

2nd Care Package

2nd Care Package (smushed!)