This is a test....it is only a test...

Apparently Blogger is banned by the government, so I'm testing out email posting and hopefully that'll work for me to be able to post while we're over there.  (We leave in SIX days!!)  Testing out posting pics too, so here's as much of her as we're allowed to show right now!

 

I Had Christmas Down in Africa...

You know that acapella song "12 days" by Straight No Chaser?  The one that goes through the 12 days of Christmas and then randomly throws in "I had Christmas down in Africa"?  That's my new theme song for this season.  Why?  Because I'm having Christmas down in Africa this year!

We got our court date today...it's January 2nd!  That means we leave in like THREE WEEKS to meet our daughter and we'll likely be there for Ethiopian Christmas on January 7th!  How amazing is that??!

Sorry to keep this so short, but I now have a million new things to get done on top of the million I already had to do before Christmas!!  :)

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.

Help for Older Boys...

Our agency's care center in Ethiopia currently has three wonderful boys who have been waiting over a year for a family to call them their own. OVER A YEAR. Think about that for a minute. As they have watched other children leave with parents—they have waited. and waited. Just because they are ‘older.’
Parents that come and pick up their kids leave burdened for these sweet boys.

Their ages are 8, 9, and 10 and here is a bit about them.
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T – T is a quiet boy who likes to play with his friends. He has a calm and friendly personality that one might see as being shy, but after he warms up to someone he is more outgoing, kind and friendly.


T likes to be active and play soccer with his buddies. He is good at sharing and is kind to the younger children at the Care Center.


L-L is an adorable little guy who loves to have fun! He can be shy around adults but is friendly with the other children. He loves to play cars and enjoys trying to make one-on-one conversations with visiting adults. Showing off what English he is learning.


Z-Z is a very compassionate boy. He is always looking out for the younger boys at the Care Center. He is seen as a big brother to every one there and is sweet to every one.


Z is fun and loves to play games with his friends. He is not over powering for attention but is willing to wait his turn.
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Several adoptive parents in our agency have become so smitten with these boys they have decided to host an online silent auction to raise funds for grants for the families that step forward to give these boys a home and family.

It will be from mid-November to December 1st. (just in time for your Christmas shopping!)

We would love to have you help us! Right now we are in the stage of gathering items to put in the auction (the website will be http://www.tlcfortlz.blogspot.com/ It’s in process right now )

Would you be willing to donate something?

Here is how it works:

1. You let me know if you would be willing to donate. Email us at ianwaitingchild@gmail.com with what you would like to donate! Then, just sit back and relax!

2. We will create a blog post about your item, including a description and picture, a minimum bid price, and a link over to your etsy page/website/blog so they can check out the other fabulous things that you do!

Look for it on http://www.tlcfortlz.blogspot.com/

3. We are planning to open the auction mid November and end it on Dec 1 (just in time for Christmas!) Readers will bid on your fantastic donation!

4. When the auction closes we will e-mail the winner to get their mailing address. Then, we will send you the address.

5. So the only thing you have to do is mail them the prize!

Also, after the auction closes, We will write a post encouraging bidders who bid on your item and did not win to go check out your etsy page/website/blog! Hopefully this will bring you a lot of free publicity.

The sweet boys get advocated for and families get a grant. Win-Win.

Feel free to email me with any questions or ideas!!


PS. If you’d like to inquire about these waiting children or any others that are currently waiting:

Email waitingkids@internationaladoptionnet.org

One Year Ago...

One year ago today we finally finished our dossier paperwork and went on the waitlist at #61 for infant girl and #24 for siblings.

  To be honest, it's hard to believe it's been a year already!  I doubt many in the adoption world would say their time on the waitlist flew by, but it really has for me.  (So far!)  We joined the waitlist long before we were actually ready for a referral, hoping by the time we were ready we'd be towards the top of the list.  Well, today I can finally say with complete confidence...I am ready!  We're moving to our new house next week (with an extra bedroom for 1 or 2 more kids) and our littlest man just turned 2 and is becoming less high maintenance every day. 

Moving will require us to update our homestudy (and pay more $, ugh), but shouldn't be a huge deal.  So, bring on the referral!  Today we're #13 (#5) on infant girl and #4 (#1) on siblings!

Getting Close!

Yes, I've been a bad blogger...so I thought I should at least update where we are in the process.  It's been an active few weeks and right now we're sitting at #4 for siblings and #15 for infant girl. 

One aspect of the waitlists that I should probably mention is there are families that are "on hold" as well.  This can be because they've gotten pregnant while waiting, having financial issues, personal problems they need to iron out, etc.  They can stay on the lists and move up, but can't accept a referral until they are able to come off hold status.  Although it can change at any time, right now I believe there are 8 families on hold in front of us on the baby girl list and 3 families on the siblings list.  Sooooo...if you take them out of the equation, we're unofficially #1 on siblings and #7 on baby girl!! 

Our referral could be anywhere from next week to next year (given the ebb and flow of this process), but thinking it'll be sooner rather than later!