We've seen her, we're smitten...now what?

What happens next?  The question I hear (and love answering!) at least a couple times each day.  The answer is, again, we wait!

Our paperwork is all ready to go, it just needs to be translated into Amharic (the predominant language in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).  Then we get submitted to court and wait to be assigned a court date.  (This may actually have already happened...the agency is getting confirmation.)  Right now the court dates going out are for the end of December, so we're hoping for January.  (Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on January 7th this year...how amazing would it be to be there for that??!)  If I had to guess though, I'd say it's more likely to be end of January/beginning of February.

So we'll travel over for Ethiopian court...get to spend lots of time getting to know our little lady in the orphanage and hopefully take a little extra time to see some of the amazing country she's from as well.  On this trip we also hope to meet her birth mother, which makes me a little teary just thinking about her heart through all of this.

Then we say goodbye and head back home without our little girl,which makes me a little teary thinking about my heart through all of this.  The US embassy will then investigate our case and once they give their clearance and issue her Visa we can head back over again to bring her back to her new home.  This can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 4+ months...but it's definitely going to be on the shorter end of the spectrum, right??!

There's still a lot that can go amiss between now and that super long plane ride home with our baby girl...so please pray for a smooth process with as few bumps in the road as possible.  Will let you know when we have news of a court date!

Chapter 3

First came the document gathering, or as many adoptive parents affectionately refer to it, "the paper chase".  Being a complete Type A, I actually kind of enjoyed that process and was able to fly through it in a couple months. 

Then came the waitlist.  The first year wasn't bad at all.  Our agency had estimated it would be 12-18 months...so that first year, while it was always in the forefront of my prayers, it was in the back of my mind.  However, the closer we got to the tops of the lists the harder the wait got...and to be completely honest the last couple months have been extremely emotional.  Thankfully I have the best husband ever...and he was kind enough not to ask me if I needed medication (though I'm quite certain it crossed his mind).  ;)

Let's see, where does that leave us?  Oh yes...Chapter 3...the REFERRAL!!!!

October 25, 2011, the day we first saw a picture of the little girl we hope to become our daughter.  The boys and I were having a playdate at a neighbor's house when Steve called from work.  Our coordinator was on the other line and he wanted to conference her in...what?!?  I was already shaking as she went on (forever!) about some paperwork that is about to expire and then finally said the words I'd been waiting over 16 months to hear, "there's a 5 month old baby girl that needs a home".  She went over the information they have on her for the next 10 minutes or so...or at least that's what I imagine she was talking about, I don't think I heard a word of it!  (Thankfully she emailed it all to us as well.)

Did I mention that Steve was at work?  And that it was about 11:30?  And that we had agreed to look at the pictures together?  Longest day of my life!

She was worth the wait though!  Big eyes, huge chubby cheeks, soft brown curls...beautiful.  I'm not allowed to share her picture or any identifying information on the Internet until we pass Ethiopian court, so you'll have to settle for this pic of her cute little hand until I see you in person.  ;)

I'll do another post soon on what the next steps are...but just wanted to say thanks again for all the love and support!  Steve and I are truly blessed to have you as friends and family in this crazy journey.