Our court date is quickly approaching. It's hard to believe that in a few days we will hopefully become the parents of one additional blessing to our family. Our court date is June 2. We will not be present for the court hearing, as it will be heard in Ethiopia, but we have a representative who will be present for us. However Baby Olivia's birth mom will be present for the court hearing. I can only imagine how difficult this will be for her, and we ask for your prayers for her as she is having to make this difficult decision for her precious baby daughter.
We anticipate that it will take several days until we hear the news regarding whether or not it was a successful court hearing on June 2, but our hope it to have some news by the end of the week or early the following week. We promise to let you all know as soon as we hear. Thank you for your prayers.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Donations for Ethiopia?
We will begin packing our bags shortly.... OK, not really that shortly, but soon enough anyway. Regardless I'm starting to prepare mentally for packing our bags at least! :-)
We are hoping to gather up more donations to take with us to assist at the orphanage in Ethiopia. Some of the items noted as being needed are clothes in sizes 2-14, including socks & shoes, iron drops for infants, children's vitamins and infant formula (they are using Walmart's brand). If you would like to help children in Ethiopia by donating items, we would be more than happy to deliver these to Ethiopia for you. Please contact us to make arrangements.
Thank you for helping the children in Ethiopia.
We are hoping to gather up more donations to take with us to assist at the orphanage in Ethiopia. Some of the items noted as being needed are clothes in sizes 2-14, including socks & shoes, iron drops for infants, children's vitamins and infant formula (they are using Walmart's brand). If you would like to help children in Ethiopia by donating items, we would be more than happy to deliver these to Ethiopia for you. Please contact us to make arrangements.
Thank you for helping the children in Ethiopia.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Birthday, Pictures & Almost Travel Dates
We received some updated information over the past week regarding our precious baby Olivia. One of the things we found out is that Olivia was born on Abigail & Emma's birthday. I just laughed when I heard the news. How incredibly odd is it for a family to have three daughters -all with the same birthday (besides those families blessed with triplets of course)?
In addition, we just received some additional photos of our beautiful daughter -including photos of her with her eyes open. She is JUST GORGEOUS! I am so sorry I cannot yet share the photos with the rest of the world, but I promise we will do so as soon as we can.
We have also been giving our "almost official, but not quite yet" travel dates. These dates won't be confirmed until after we have confirmation that we passed court -which should come to us in early June. In the meantime we are mentally preparing to travel in July, and I have begun counting down the days until I have her in my arms.
Please continue to pray for Olivia -for her health and well being and for loving, comforting hands to be caring for her. We trust that God is hearing our prayers. Please also pray for comfort and peace for her birth family.
In addition, we just received some additional photos of our beautiful daughter -including photos of her with her eyes open. She is JUST GORGEOUS! I am so sorry I cannot yet share the photos with the rest of the world, but I promise we will do so as soon as we can.
We have also been giving our "almost official, but not quite yet" travel dates. These dates won't be confirmed until after we have confirmation that we passed court -which should come to us in early June. In the meantime we are mentally preparing to travel in July, and I have begun counting down the days until I have her in my arms.
Please continue to pray for Olivia -for her health and well being and for loving, comforting hands to be caring for her. We trust that God is hearing our prayers. Please also pray for comfort and peace for her birth family.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
100 MPH...
Things are coming along. In the last few days we have set up her crib and picked out some bedding, scheduled MORE immunization appointments, participated in a webinar to learn more about our upcoming trip, received our almost official embassy appointment date in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, been advised of our nearly official travel dates, gotten some itinerary information from a travel agent, received more information about our precious daughter and decided on her name -which will be Olivia. Whew!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
We have a COURT DATE.... ALREADY!
We received news yesterday that we already have a court date scheduled, which is SUPER fast. It is so fast in fact that our agency advised they have never seen a court date be provided this fast before. We received news of our referral just one week prior (Friday 4/30), and sent in our acceptance paperwork Monday 5/3, which was promptly sent to Ethiopia. It usually takes anywhere from 2-6 weeks to receive a court date, and they processed ours in 4 days (including an Ethiopian holiday)... and did I mention that Ethiopia is about 1/2 a day ahead of us?
Anyway, our court date is June 2, 2010. If all goes well, we will become the legal parents of our precious Ethiopian princess while we are sleeping the night before (since they are 1/2 day ahead of us). We likely won't receive the news indicating whether or not we passed court for a few days, but we'll certainly be on the edge of our seats that week.
Upon receiving confirmation of passing court we will then receive our official travel dates and be able to begin making our travel arrangements. It's still looking like we'll be able to travel in July to bring her home.
Anyway, our court date is June 2, 2010. If all goes well, we will become the legal parents of our precious Ethiopian princess while we are sleeping the night before (since they are 1/2 day ahead of us). We likely won't receive the news indicating whether or not we passed court for a few days, but we'll certainly be on the edge of our seats that week.
Upon receiving confirmation of passing court we will then receive our official travel dates and be able to begin making our travel arrangements. It's still looking like we'll be able to travel in July to bring her home.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
the process from here?
Thank you everyone for sharing in our excitement. We appreciate all your prayers as well. Please keep them coming!
We have officially sent in all of our paperwork. So what is the process from here?
Now we get to wait some more! Right now we are waiting for a court date. This is the day when our adoption case will be held in the Ethiopian courts and we will (upon passing court) legally become the parents of our precious baby girl in Ethiopia. At that point we will then be able to share photos of her publically, which is super exciting.
Upon passing court Baby Sister (don't worry, this isn't really her name. It's simply what we've been calling her for the past year plus) will be moved to another location -which is run by our adoption agency staff. She will stay there until we arrive to bring her home.
After we pass court, we will wait some more for an Embassy date, which is typically 5-6 weeks after passing court. At that point we will be able to make our travel arrangements, as we will need to be present in Ethiopia for our Embassy date.
So we're just still waiting. Just wanted to share our next steps with all of you. Thanks again for sharing in our excitement.
We have officially sent in all of our paperwork. So what is the process from here?
Now we get to wait some more! Right now we are waiting for a court date. This is the day when our adoption case will be held in the Ethiopian courts and we will (upon passing court) legally become the parents of our precious baby girl in Ethiopia. At that point we will then be able to share photos of her publically, which is super exciting.
Upon passing court Baby Sister (don't worry, this isn't really her name. It's simply what we've been calling her for the past year plus) will be moved to another location -which is run by our adoption agency staff. She will stay there until we arrive to bring her home.
After we pass court, we will wait some more for an Embassy date, which is typically 5-6 weeks after passing court. At that point we will be able to make our travel arrangements, as we will need to be present in Ethiopia for our Embassy date.
So we're just still waiting. Just wanted to share our next steps with all of you. Thanks again for sharing in our excitement.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
REFERRAL news!
Congratulations! It's a GIRL!
We received our long awaited referral for our precious daughter on Friday. She is a beautiful one month old baby, and we cannot wait to get our hands on her and love her all up!
The other good news which accompanied the referral was that we may still be able to get into the Ethiopian court system before the two-trip rule is officially implemented, which means we may only be required to make ONE trip. As I previously posted, there are pros and cons of each, but we would really prefer to only have to make one trip. At this time we're estimating our travel plans to take place in July, and YES, we would bring her home with us at that time.
Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and prayers. Please continue to pray for Baby Sister as she's in Ethiopia waiting for our arrival. Pray for her peace, contentment and bonding with those currently caring for her. Please pray for patience for us as we continue to wait through the next steps of this transition. We will be sure to keep you all posted.
We received our long awaited referral for our precious daughter on Friday. She is a beautiful one month old baby, and we cannot wait to get our hands on her and love her all up!
The other good news which accompanied the referral was that we may still be able to get into the Ethiopian court system before the two-trip rule is officially implemented, which means we may only be required to make ONE trip. As I previously posted, there are pros and cons of each, but we would really prefer to only have to make one trip. At this time we're estimating our travel plans to take place in July, and YES, we would bring her home with us at that time.
Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and prayers. Please continue to pray for Baby Sister as she's in Ethiopia waiting for our arrival. Pray for her peace, contentment and bonding with those currently caring for her. Please pray for patience for us as we continue to wait through the next steps of this transition. We will be sure to keep you all posted.
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