7/30/09

20 days until court

We are getting closer to our court date. Just 20 days. I'm trying not to get too excited in case we do not pass on the first try. In the mean time, I am checking my in box all the time waiting for new pictures to come. It has been 28 days since our referral, so I'm hoping any day now we will get new pictures.
And to keep me occupied I have been shopping, shopping and more shopping for the babies.

7/17/09

Court date

Yes it is true we got a court date today!!! Aug 19th is the day. We are incredibly happy that court is going to stay open in August. I didn't know how I could survive the wait until court reopened in October. I am just so excited. I doubt I will sleep tonight.
The news made it hard to focus on this busy Friday. I just keep thinking by September we can be traveling to bring our babies home.
I will get to hold them, hear the laughs and cries, count their fingers and toes. Memorize every face they make.
Now we begin the serious faze of buying things. I saved the best for last:) shopping!
Thank you so much to everyone that has helped us through this hard, long process and kept us in their prayers.

7/13/09

Bummed Out

Today we were told by our agency, that MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) will be closed for two weeks while they do training and discuss the possibility of working through Aug and Sept, not closing for the rainy season. What this means to us is our paperwork will probably not make it to court by July 22nd. So if court does close we will not have a court date until October.........OCTOBER!!!!
We have been in this process for 15 months and we are going to wait another 2 months. This has been such a roller coaster ride of emotions, highs and lows. Sometimes I wonder how will I get through this and be a sane person?????

7/4/09

Photos of their new family

I just picked out pictures to put together a photo for Amarech and Beri. Our agency requests these photos so our children will get familiar with our faces before we arrive to take them home.

It was hard to choose photos for a 6 month and 14 month old to be informative and colorful.

I included a few pictures of Naing and I together, my sister, Patty and her family since they live close by, the dogs, us with the dogs and our back yard.

As we get furniture together in their room, I'll send some of those pictures for later.

Now I'm on the hunt to try to find the most economical way for us to buy what we need in the short period of time that we have.

I have made a list......and it is a little overwhelming. Now is when I wish I lived close to my sister, Donna. She does such an amazing job of organizing and planning. I need that help now.

Patty and Lisa want to do a shower now and then have Debbie give a meet and greet shower when we are finally home with our babies. That will help alot.
But I'm not griping this is a whole bunch more fun than waiting, waiting, waiting.

7/1/09

Our referrals

We will always remember this Canada Day as the day we got our referrals. Once again I was asked by one of my employees if we had heard anything about our babies yet. As I proceeded to tell her no we know absolutely nothing....and don't know when we will, things changed. Around 12:30 today I received a call from our Agency to tell us they had information on our referrals. I wanted Naing to hear this too, so we conference called him at work. Some of the sweetest words I every heard a girl 14 months old and a boy around 6 months old. The boy Beri, his birthday is a guess since he was a found baby. He is so sweet and has a wonderful smile for all to see. Our girl Amarech, is so beautiful, but she isn't smiling for the camera. She is looking seriously at the person taking her picture.

I was just crying on the phone listening to Tammi's sweet words about our babies. After we got of the phone I just sat there in shock. I ended up going into the treatment room at work and jumping up and down and I let out a shout of joy. Then the phone calls and emails started. I sure hope I remembered everyone.

Naing and I feel so blessed, relieved and joyful. Hard to put into words how the weight of this unknown has been lifted from my shoulders and everything just seems brighter. When I came home from work, Naing had champagne and flowers waiting for me.

Now we accept our referrals, we officially signed our paperwork tonight and once again wait. Now we will be waiting for a court date. We hope that we can get a court date before the cutoff for court closure. The adoption court in Addis Abba closes for approximately 6 weeks during the rainy season and no cases are heard. Everyone please keep us in your prayers that we beat that deadline and pass court on the first go around.