Finally Some News

I got home yesterday afternoon to find a message from Shimeliss, the director or our adoption agency. He had talked to Grace in Ethiopia and apparently she has been able to get our paperwork and they “should file our case Monday or Tuesday”. Woo Hoo!!!! That should get us in before the court closure if all goes smoothly.

It’s been talking about 7-10 days after filing to hear what your court date is but if things go according to schedule we would be travelling around the first or second week in September.

Another prayer

I love to listen to our five year old, Natalie, pray. She has such a heart for the Lord and for other people.

Last night at dinner time her prayer went something like this.

“Dear God, Thank you for this food. Help mommy and daddy when they go to get W-boy and B-girl that mom can learn how to make some new foods so we can have more Ethiopian food. Amen”

The girl got one taste of injera and she has been begging me to make some. Mark got me an electric skillet a few weeks ago so I’m running out of excuses. Maybe soon.

Tag, You’re It

So, it’s now been 19 days since we heard from AWOP that our kids paperwork was ready. And in those 19 days it has failed to make it from one person in Ethiopia to another person in Ethiopia.

Meanwhile the clock is ticking and we are getting closer and closer to court closure.

So I turned into a squeaky wheel…the one that wants some grease. I called, they called, they called me back, I called, etc. etc.

I finally confirmed at about 11:30 today that my papers are still in the hands of the ET national that AWOP works with and he has had trouble getting them to the Hope staff. We (me and Grace @ Hope) suspect that he was trying to deliver them to someone who no longer works for Hope.

The good news is that Grace (um, not sure of her official title but she is the go-to gal at Hope) is traveling to Ethiopia on Monday to pick up her son. I was able to get a phone number for the man who holds my paperwork and have given it to Grace so that she can track him down next week, get the papers and HOPEFULLY get our case filed.

Please pray that this all gets squared away next week!

A prayer from the heart

Tonight our 5 year old, Natalie, was praying at bedtime, ” Dear God, please help W-boy & B-Girl’s grandma not to be so sad that they are moving here. And help her to hear about Jesus and accept Him in her heart so that she can see W-boy & B-girl in heaven again someday, Amen”.

Sweet Words

Today we got new video of our kids from Michelle’s last trip to ET and the delivery of our package. She showed them the photo album and gave them our gifts. She started to pump up the soccer ball for W-boy and he got so excited that he had to help her. He’s definitely got the hang of the air pump, so that’s good.

She asked them if they could turn to the camera and say “Thank you mommy & daddy.” Those were the sweetest words to hear. (I played the video twice…so far.)

Then we got a little demonstration of W-boys soccer skills. We’re going to have to sign him up for soccer for sure.

Baby Steps

This week has been extremely frustrating for me as we have been in paper limbo. Remember how we heard that the kids legal papers were ready? 11 days later and they had not made it from AWOP staff in ET to Hope staff in ET.

Meanwhile I’m starting to panic as court closures loom closer and closer. Finally heard from Hope today. Apparently AWOP had the wrong phone number for their ET contact. So now that it is all cleared up hopefully are papers will be all together soon and then we can get filed.

It is currently taking about 10 days between filing for a court date and getting a court date. So we are on kind of a rolling 9-10 week time frame. So travel would be end of August at the earliest.

This is good news for MeeMaw who will be home from England by then. It also means that we’ll have a couple of weeks to get the kids settled in school (starts beginning of August here) before we leave.

Happy Birthday W-boy

My little boy is 9 years old today. (Okay, well today in Ethiopia, as it is now June 10th there. I know, just trying to confuse you.)

We so wish we could be there to celebrate with him. It pains us to miss his birthday. Even though we have not met him yet, he is a part of our family and a part of our hearts.

So here’s a cupcake in honor of W-boy, with his favorite color - pink!

Major preparation accomplishment

Last week we finally found bunk beds for the girls. I have been stalking the classifieds, mainly on Craigslist, for something in our budget. Last week we found some oak ones that INCLUDED the two mattresses for the bargain price of $125.

They are pretty plain but I had been toying with the idea of painting all the girls furniture as it is. The chest of drawers and dresser that are in Natalie’s room now have some finish damage and the handles are not really my style. So I think I will paint all of it white, including the bed, maybe even antique it, and get some new hardware.

Next on the list is repainting Noah & W-boy’s room. I have the paint thanks to some leftovers from Jen. Just a matter of taking off the wallpaper border and clearing some room to paint.

New Glimpses of Our Kids

We finally got new pictures of B-girl and W-boy (the wait always seems like forever). We got 13 pictures in all. It looks like maybe they were taken outside of church as they were “dressed up”. That’s totally a guess on my part. But B-girl was in a dress! That’s the first time we’ve seen that.

They got their package and W-boy got his soccer ball inflated.

Now we just await a court date.

Adoption is a Roller Coaster

Anyone who has been or is involved in the adoption process knows what an emotional roller coaster it can be - so many highs and lows.

Well we have friends who are strapped in and going through the ride of their life right now. They were supposed to take custody of their newborn son on Saturday but there are delays with the birth mom and they are on what probably seems like a never-ending ride. You can go to their blog and read all the details but I’m sure the Grays would appreciate any extra prayers on their behalf and on behalf of the dear birth mom.

My heart aches for everything they are going through but we rest in knowing that God is sovereign and that he is all powerful. Please pray for the Grays.

UPDATE: Praise the Lord. The birthmother has signed the papers and baby Gray is coming home.