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!)

A Light at the End of the Tunnel!

A lot has happened since our last post... from terrible news to great! We found out about a month ago that our agency would not be receiving their license anytime soon, if at all. Apparently there is a hold on licenses being issued and it is undecided as to when that hold will be lifted. Upon finding this news out, the director of our agency quickly began looking for another agency to take on our case (and the other families stuck in the same situation as us). This news was devastating to receive, as it was a definite possibility that this would all just fall through! Fortunately, one of the agencies contacted did agree to take the cases on, so we have officially transferred our case to this other agency. Yeah! We will be eternally grateful to them for helping us! They have been wonderful to work with and our original agency has also been great in making sure the cases transfer over smoothly and quickly. The director of our new agency has expressed several times how quickly she would like things to progress with our cases, as they know we have all been waiting a long time. Fine by us!!! So, over the past few weeks we have been flying through any paperwork that needs to be changed or updated.

Several months ago, the court process in Ethiopia changed. We originally did not need to be present at the court date, since we were filed in the system before the change took place. We will now be filed as a new case though, so it is mandatory that we attend court to meet our child before the hearing actually takes place. If all goes well in court, we will then come home for 4 - 8 weeks while they prepare her new birth certificate, passport & visa. Then, we will return to pick her up and to attend an appointment at the US Embassy where we will receive her birth certificate, passport & visa. After that, we will finally be able to bring her home  :)

We will hopefully have our case re-filed in the courts within the next couple of weeks and shortly after that has been done, we will then be notified of our court date & begin making our travel arrangements to go there for that & to meet our little girl for the first time! The children were moved over to our new agency's foster orphanage this afternoon. Please keep her & the other children in your thoughts as they spend their first night in a new place (while I am typing this)! We are worried of how "B" & the others are handling it, but comforted that they were moved together. In order to move forward with things, this move was necessary. So, that part of it makes us feel beyond excited right now! It is a HUGE step forward! We finally feel a sense of relief that this is going to happen & we are going to bring her home!

Thank you again to all of our family & friends for being there for us throughout this journey that has been much longer than we expected! It really does mean so much to us! We will continue to post any updates as we receive them! 

Ethiopian New Year

September 11th is the Ethiopian New Year, so we are wishing our little girl a very Happy New Year today! I am also wishing a Happy Birthday to my husband Pat and a Happy 1st Birthday to our niece/goddaughter (whose birthday was yesterday)! Lastly, we are remembering all who lost loved ones 9 years ago today on 9/11.

We haven't posted any updates in a while b/c we have basically just been waiting (and waiting) for everything to get situated with our agency's license. It has taken MUCH longer than they anticipated, but it will hopefully all be completed very soon! We will then be able to move forward in the process. Hope to post some good news soon!  

Court Date Rescheduled

Our case did not actually make it to court on May 6th. Our agency's license is in the process of being renewed at this time, which is needed to finalize everything in court. They are expecting to receive it within the next few weeks.  Our court date hearing will then be rescheduled, and we will proceed with the process from there.  We received updated measurements and pictures of our little one this week :) She has the most beautiful smile and it was so wonderful to receive these!!!

Court Date Scheduled!!!

Our court date hearing is scheduled for May 6, 2010! We're so excited! It can often take several attempts for families to "pass" court though. If we do pass on this date, we should hopefully be able to travel there sometime in June to pick up our little girl! If not, things will be delayed until we ultimately do pass court and remainder of paperwork has been completed. Please keep your fingers crossed that we do pass our first time around!

Thanks to everyone for all of your kind words, support and excitement! This is obviously such an exciting time for us and we are grateful to be sharing it with such wonderful family members & friends!

It's a 3 Yr. Old!!!

We received and accepted the referral for our little girl yesterday-- yeah!!!! She is 3 yrs. old, healthy & absolutely beautiful!!! We are unable to email or post her picture and name until everything goes through court & she is legally ours! They are in the process of getting the court date scheduled right now, which will hopefully take place in the next 4-8 weeks. Once we have "passed" court, we then travel there shortly after to pick her up & bring her home! We are sooo happy & excited and can't wait to bring her home to meet her new family & friends :)