Ethiopia Updates

The following message was posted on IAN's website yesterday...

"We just received word from our facilitator in Ethiopia that the courts will be opening back up on October 7, 2009. This means that we will not be assigned new court dates until after the 7th."

The date was actually changed to the 12th today, but this does not affect us either way, because we are still waiting for our referral. However, it went on to say...

"Also- our staff in Ethiopia has confirmed that the US Embassy is now requiring all documents to be submitted 2 weeks prior to an Embassy Date. This means that travel will now be a minimum of 8 weeks after passing court as it takes six weeks to collect all necessary documents for the embassy appointment."

The wait had previously been between 4 and 6 weeks, so this will definitely push us back on traveling. As hard as the wait is now, I hear that the wait between referral and traveling is much harder, so this is a little bit of a disappointment. However, I know that everything happens for a reason, and it is all in God's timing. I am trying to be at peace with that.

Networking

In June, I stumbled across a local families blog, and coincidentally they were in Ethiopia getting their beautiful daughter at the time. This lady is an incredible Christian, and has the most beautiful way with words. I found myself completely immersed in her blog, and couldn't put it down until I had read every post. I was so anxious to meet her, that I found her email and asked if we could meet for lunch one day. Fortunately, we were finally able to get together last week. It was such a pleasure getting to visit with her and ask her a million questions that were on my mind. She has an older daughter that they took with them to Ethiopia, so of course I wanted to pick her brain about taking Paige with us. The best part of all, was that she brought their little 8 month old daughter along. She is so incredibly precious that it made me all the more anxious to bring home our little one. If you get the chance to visit her blog, it is http://www.adoptingaria.blogspot.com/. It is truly inspirational and will not disappoint.

This week, I met with another lady who is also adopting from International Adoption Net. They are # 9 on the baby girl list. It is so awesome to have the opportunity to visit with someone who is going through the exact same experience that we are, and to know that our Ethiopian children will have friends to play with, with similar backgrounds. Thank You God for putting these new friends into our lives.

Finally!

Guess what finally came in the mail today? You got it, our I-171H. This was the last piece we needed before we could get a referral. So you can imagine the smile on my face when I saw it in the mailbox! Now, I just have to call Allison and let her know, and I guess we can expect a referral at anytime. I am getting so excited!

While We Wait...

The last few weeks have been very busy at our house, which makes the waiting seem easier. I have been needing to add some pictures to the blog, so I thought this would be the perfect time. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to, while we wait...

We took a last minute trip to San Diego, over Labor Day Weekend. Here are some pictures from our vacation.

The San Diego Zoo was amazing, but we didn't get to see much of it. Paige was done after about two hours.

Paige had a blast at Legoland. She even got her face painted like a dalmation, and loved all of the attention she got from it.

The day after returning home from San Diego, Paige started her second year of preschool. Here is a picture of her on the first day at school.

She loves posing for the camera.

Finally, Paige's fifth birthday was last Wednesday. Here is our annual picture of her, in front of her birthday sign.

I have more from her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, but I am still trying to figure out how to get them off of my other camera. If I figure out how to do it in the next few days, I will post some of those.

More Questions Answered

The paperwork that we missed getting state certified arrived the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, so Paige and I made the trip back to Austin that day. Again, it was a very pleasant experience, taking no more than 30 minutes. We had it back in the mail that afternoon, and it has since arrived in Colorado. I spoke with Allison this past Wednesday, and all is good with the dossier on our part. They are however, waiting for a few documents from our social worker before sending it to D.C. She said that they are expecting that anytime, so hopefully it won't take too long. I know Beverley (our social worker) is very busy. Once it is sent to D.C., it will be certified on the national level and then sent back to IAN in Colorado. At that point, it will be sent to Ethiopia.

As I mentioned before, this is all a learning experience for me, so I asked Allison a lot more questions. Here is what I found out...

The waiting at this point, is actually waiting for a child to arrive at the orphanage. Prior to learning this, I had assumed that the waiting was just for the processing of paperwork. Of course, once a child arrives at an orphanage, it takes a few weeks before he can be referred, because he has to undergo medical testing and they have to make sure that he is truly abandoned. This is relieving to me, because I have always thought that the less time he is in an orphanage the better. However, with that being said, at least at the orphanage he will receive some sort of nourishment, and you don't know what he is or is not getting before he arrives there. I guess it could be a good thing or a bad thing.

I also learned that once a young child is referred, he is typically moved to IAN's transition home. I believe there are less children here, therefore I am assuming he will receive better care here and more love and attention. This is where he will stay until we can get him. Allison said that they do not move the older children here, until they actually pass court, because they would never want to move them back to the orphanage, in the event that something changed. The little ones however, are moved because of overcrowding in the orphanage. This is great news, because obviously we are going to want him to be in a situation where he will receive the best care.

Finally, I have joined IAN's yahoo group, and have been amazed with the camaraderie amongst the members. Of course you have people in all stages of the process. Some are still gathering paperwork, some are on waiting lists, some have received referrals and are waiting for court dates, some have passed court and are waiting for travel dates, some are traveling, and some have already returned home. The most amazing thing to me is those who are traveling to pick up their children are taking things (like medication) for people who are waiting to travel, as well as taking pictures and sending updates on everyone's children. One gentleman, who just left to pick up his child, is apparently a doctor, and is doing physicals on everyone's children. It makes me so excited to get a referral and have people do this for us, as well as to travel and get to do this for other people who are half a world away from their children. If nothing else, this whole process has reminded me of the goodness that still exists in the world today.