We passed!

I'm kind of confused as to how everything worked out, but I got an email this morning saying that the case that had been delayed, has now been approved.

Excuse me while I go freak out about all the things we still have to do.....

Court: small setback

Birth mother showed up to court yesterday, but was missing a key piece of documentation that the judge needed.

She was asked to go home to Awassa (which is about 5 hours away) and deliver the doc to the orphanage director. Director will bring it back to Addis Ababa to our representative there. They'll bring it to the judge and we *think* that he will then give us the thumbs up at that time, as opposed to making us wait another month or two or three for another court date.

I hope to get confirmation on that part tomorrow. We think this will all transpire some time next week. Things in Ethiopia seem to happen on their own time schedule though.

So, not the best news, but certainly not the worst.

No news...

Five families with our agency had court dates yesterday. One found out that they passed. The others haven't heard anything yet. At least we know that our rep in Ethiopia has passed the info on to our HQ office. Now we wait for that info to trickle down to our local offices and for them to call us.

Tick-tock Tick-tock

Our court date is today. Was today. Addis Ababa is 10 hours ahead of us, so they already know the outcome.

One of the other families with our agency is there right now picking up their little girl. Maybe they'll spill the beans to us.

Going to do some sewing to keep my mind occupied...

Court Date Countdown

2 more days...

I've been feeling pretty calm up until now. Now I'm anxious. Such a big part of our life has been in flux over the past year and it seems like so many statements have begun with "Depending on when the kids come home..." I just want to know if we'll be going to get them in the next 4-6 weeks, or if it will be pushed out further.

Keep us in your thoughts on Wednesday, March 4th.

Not much to report...

...waiting for an update, new pictures, any tidbit of information we can get.

...waiting for our court date.

...looking for beds for the boys' room and bedding for the girlie girl's room.

...selling all our leftover infant/baby stuff on Craigslist. (Wow, all this time I blamed the mounds of junk in our basement on Marc. Who knew it was really Fletcher's fault!? (haha) We've sold 5 trash bags full of baby clothes, an exersaucer, jumparoo, bouncer, pack & play, playmat and box of toys. AND, we still have more to go. It feels great to get rid of this stuff. I unpacked it all and oooh'd and aaah'd over how tiny and cute it was, and how I couldn't believe how much Fletcher has grown. But no tears were shed.

...trying to get our basement in order and turned into a playroom, so that the current playroom (aka extra bedroom) can be turned into girlie girl's room.

I guess that's about it. I'd love to fly off and scoop them up tomorrow, but we do have things to accomplish here first and, hopefully, that'll keep our minds occupied for awhile.

Court Date

We just got our court date.

March 4th.

MARCH.

Ugh.... We were told when we got our referral that it would be 8 - 10 weeks before we traveled, so we have been counting on going at the end of February. Now it looks more like the end of March. I mean, I know things change. I'm not upset about that. I'm just sad that our kids have to stay in an orphanage that much longer when they could be home all snuggled up with us.

Sigh.

It's been an interesting few weeks. We filled out more paperwork (it seriously never ends!), squeezed blood from a turnip, er, I mean, wrote a check for every cent left in our savings account, then pretty much got lost in the holidays.

Now we're starting to realize how much we need to do - carseats and clothing and bedrooms and daycare (down the road). I guess as long as they have food in their bellies and some warm hugs they'll be alright. Beds and room decorations will be figured out eventually. I suppose the extra month will give us time to do all these things and come up with the rest of the money we will need. Yes, it all works out in the end.



(costs: $9500 - country fee & agency fee)