It's Official! (sort of)

Ed, L,  Mo

We have passed court! The "sort of" part = one piece of paper which needs to arrive from the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC.

The Ethiopian court could have refused us, and required a new court date. Instead, we've been approved pending the receipt of this paper.

We were told that we should be able to travel in early March.

Lame Jokes and True Joy

While we wait and try to maintain normal life with our heart strings stretched taut all the way to Ethiopia, I've been considering what I could post.

We've been telling some jokes to lighten the mood. This could be suitable posting material...
Bern's favorite childhood joke:
"What is red and orange and lying in the ditch?"


~ "An injured cheese puff" ~

Or G's latest:
"What's brown and sounds like a bell?"


~ "Dung!" ~

...or NOT.

Yesterday the Lord provided... and not just writing material!
We are thrilled to announce that all of the funds for the adoption and travel are here! The final $2200 (ish) needed came in during these 5-6 days of waiting to hear the results of our court date. God's people have been so generous, and the Lord has removed all roadblocks for bringing the girls home!

We've heard that the airline is offering a discount (something like 'buy one, get one half price') for flights from the US to Addis. Our hope is to have a travel date very soon, so that we can take advantage of this temporary special pricing. Any money we can save on travel could be used to purchase some of the items we still need for the girls, and for the completion of the remodelling necessary to fit everyone! Please pray with us for news of a potential travel date!

...And Wait

Still no word from Ethiopia.

Hopefully today?

We Wait

We had hoped to have news about passing court today. Unfortunately, our agency has no information for us. We will have to wait until Monday when the office is open again. Bummer.

Sweet 16

Beautiful ~ Inside and Out

Last year on this day, I made the mistake of sitting on the couch with G to look through her baby book. Neither of us could hold our emotions together, weeping as we realized how quickly 15 years had passed. I don't even dare glance at that book today! Our lovely daughter is 16!

We joke about G being our 'experimental model' ~ the first one through our feeble attempts to parent and homeschool. She has made us look waaay too good. A true treasure...

Looking to January 25

Amazing to think that we could officially and legally be the parents of 3 more beautiful girls within the week. Please pray that our court date, January 25 goes smoothly!

I may not post any further photos of the girls until after our adoption is approved in the Ethiopian courts. If you would like to see the latest photos taken just yesterday by a friend in Addis, please email us to see them privately.

Court Prayers

I'm back from a lovely long weekend with my brother, Kurt, and my sil, Kathy. Colorado has sunshine in January ~ what a concept!

Please pray as our court date of January 25 draws nearer. Please Pray that all necessary documents (and people) will be properly assembled and accepted so that we can pass court the first time.

Letters and photos from the girls arrived while I was gone this weekend. Here's a quote from the Mom who delivered our letters to the girls, and carried letters back from them:

"After I passed out your letters, I told the girls that their Mom sent along one more thing for each of them. They got a puzzled look on their faces. Then I held out my arms and gave them each a big hug. Your oldest, Mo, hugged me back so hard, I didn't think she'd let go! It brought tears to my eyes.
The next day, your middle girl (Ed) came over when she saw me and gave me a hug. And then she said, "That is for my Mom!"
...They are all amazing, sweet, loving, and yes, beautiful girls."

Yep... I sobbed when I read it.

A quote from the girl's letter to us: "Please come faster."

Favorite Blogs

My sister, Sandi, has amazing artistic talent (as does her husband and two sons!). To see her photos of our farm, click this link . Her photo blog is Urban Space. For those of you at the stage of life needing senior photos ...or any other type of photography for that matter (she's amazing with wedding photos)... contact her! Here is a sampling of her people photos.

I frequently check Denise's writings at Destination Ethiopia to connect with Ethiopia and her life there. She actually delivered hugs to our daughters last week... how cool is that!?! I have learned SO much about Ethiopian culture from Denise, mixed with great humor.

I have a list of adoptive family blogs which I check often, but will share those later. At this point, I read anything which gives me some sort of connection to or preparation for our girls.

Injury report

The report on Ed's injury from the Mom who took the photo:
"She had a head on collision with another kid while playing. Nate says she's fine. She wasn't too happy about having her photo taken with the bandage!"

It appears that L wasn't happy about it either! We thought it was rather funny to have a photo of Mo smiling pleasantly and the younger two frowning ~ opposite of many photos we'd seen of them before they knew about our family.

Reality Check

After supper this evening, we had a lengthy family discussion about the girls coming home. How will life change? What might it be like? We (and especially Berny) tried to prepare the kids for just how tough it could be. It was really a session of taking off the rose-colored glasses, and digging into the grime of reality. We are preparing for good things and joys, of course! But we are also preparing for at least six months of potential gut wrenching adjustment and struggle. It is certain that the girls will grieve... not so certain is how they (and our other children) will deal with it all.

From what I've read and experienced, it seems common for families to have a VERY difficult time for the first three months, downgraded to difficult time until six months, and, finally, some sort of new normal by about one year. Of course, for some the honeymoon doesn't seem to end, and life is one of those desired 'happily-ever-afters.' We're voting for that.


This very humorous (while at the same time realistic) list was posted on our adoption forum today by a newly adoptive parent:

Reflections on the First Week:

1. Seven oranges in one day exceeds the advisable limit of citrus fruits for a 42 pound little girl.

2. "Mama" is a sweet word until you've heard 10,000 times before 10 am.

3. A small Ethiopian and a large canine, both with a penchant for peanut butter and cornbread, can quickly form a symbiotic relationship.

4. One little girl can double a family's grocery bill.

5. We should have invested in peanut stock. And oranges.

6. "Ey ishye" (Look, OK?) can get old after a few days, especially when paired with "Mama." See 2.

7. Passing gas is a universal bonding ritual among children.

8. The week you bring home your child is not a good week for your cleaning help to quit. It is also not a good week to care.

9. No matter how prepared you think you are, YOU ARE NOT.

10. Ethiopians have very beautiful words for very nasty bathroom results.

11. Red patent leather shoes DO, in fact, go very nicely with pink pajamas.

12. Release your vanity and raise your pain threshold before you let your 6 year old braid your hair.

13. We are not teaching Mati how to curse. She's learning how to say"shirt," thank you very much.

14. Sofa gymnastics - more fun than you remember.

15. Panic is a natural, if unwelcome, response to sleeplessness, jetlag, travel to a 3rd world country, and, oh yes, bringing a new child into the family.

16. When experiencing panic, read Melissa Fay Greene's article on post-adoption depression. Repeat as necessary.

17. It is, in fact, supposed to be a happy thing. Reminding yourself of that helps immensely.

18. When in doubt, pass the chocolate around.


Finally, I found a new photo of the girls today. Ordinarily I'd be bouncing with excitement... but this photo of our beautiful three shows Ed with a rather large, white bandage above her right eye, and noticeable swelling/shiner of the same eye. What in the world???

Anna saw it and said, "Maybe she's just as good at hurting herself as I am." Is it possible that the same self injury genes A inherited from Uncle Clarence have already spread over to Ed? (you know... the "do everything with the highest possible intensity, which carries a fairly high risk of being permanently maimed" gene) *gasp*

A few details

To answer the questions posed in the comments box yesterday :):

How did we find out?
I emailed the agency with other questions, and tacked on the potentially unanswerable question, "Any news about a court date for us?" Just so happens that we were on their list of folks to contact that day; they just hadn't gotten to us yet!
Group A is the letter to identify all of the families with our agency at this same point ~ provided we all pass court and have similar embassy dates, we might be in Eth. together to meet our kids.

Yes ~ we have to wait until after the court date to book flights. Actually, we have to wait to have an embassy date assigned - the appt. at which we pay for and receive the girl's visas to enter the US. We should be able to travel in late Feb.

There is a great travel agency out of WA state - Susan Parr travel - which books this trip quite regularly for adoptive parents, and tends to find great deals. I'm sure we'll book with them again.

It's all feeling quite real today.

We sent out letters today to be carried over to the girls by a traveling family. Lots of bright colored paper and stickers... but I can't wait to replace them with real hugs!

COURT DATE

Gorgeous day here today ~ fresh snow, and bright sunshine. It has been made even more beautiful and bright by the news that we have a court date!

January 25

We are in "Group A."

The agency director said that travel is typically 4 weeks after the court date, provided everything goes smoothly in court.