The day has come!

Okay, the big day has arrived...well, in Ethiopia anyway. It is now 6pm here in Mountain time, but it is 4am in Ethiopia right now. In a few hours the sun will rise, court officials will wake up and head to work, and then they will hear a case of a family in Montana and a little boy from Hannah's Hope. They will see that everything is in order and will joyfully approve this adoption deeming "M" legally our son! At least this is our prayer. Unfortunately, we will not know for a while, but it is happening in only a few hours none-the-less. Join us in prayer tomorrow! We would REALLY like to travel at the end of January.

Hang in there little guy will be there soon...

10 Days

Well we have just been doing the holiday thing and waiting for our court date. We only have 10 days until it happens. I just really wish we could find out sooner than the 5th of January, that is torture! I have mixed feelings about this period of the adoption. On one hand I feel like we should be getting so much more prepared and excited, but on the other hand it has been the least involved part of the whole process. In the paperwork phase we were so busy with forms, plans, home study etc. and then on to the waiting list where each month we got an update and moved forward. Then the referral came and all that we had to get done for that but now we just sit and wait. We get no updates on our little guy like I thought we would, no photos like so many other families got while they waited, no info on how our case is proceeding, really nothing at all right now. Oh wait, I take that back we do have to get shots next week...whoopee! I don't mean to sound negative, but it just feels a little empty looking at a picture of a child who will soon be my son but I don't know him, hear him, see him, or feel him. All I have is the connection through a few photos and prayers. I feel like I have to keep my heart in a semi guarded state in case we do not pass court the first time, but at the same time I want to start preparing for the new attachment and life that will be a part of our family. It reminds me a lot of waiting for labor. I started thinking two weeks before my due date that I could have my daughter ANY TIME...well four weeks later she popped out 14 days late! I don't do well with that any-moment-now type of waiting for long periods of time. I'm glad I have Christmas keep me occupied through this time of torn emotions. I just can't wait until we have travel dates, then I will be able to whole heartedly start preparing. I just can't wait to hold that little guy.

We have a court date!

Exactly 8 months after we got on the waiting list we will have our first (and hopefully only) court date. Our court date is scheduled for December 23! Please pray hard with us that we will pass court on the FIRST try. If this happens we are looking at traveling the end of January. If we have to do more court dates it will push it back to February or longer. Whether or not we pass we will still not find out until January 5th or later due to the holidays. This is going to be SO hard, so to save me from the torture of repeating "I don't know yet" please wait until then to ask about progress:)

On another note, I had a wonderful dream about Gotcha Day. We went to Hannah's hope and picked up our little guy and it was wonderful. He cried at first but then once he was used to us he just snuggled in as I held him. We got to meet one of the staff members from Hannah's Hope and Almaz brought in a blanket of his that she had saved for him. I can't wait until we get to actually experience this and not just dream about it.

A must hear audio program

Please take a few minutes to listen to this powerful audio broadcast by Kay Warren the wife of the author of The Purpose Driven Life. Click Here!

Referral Party

So a week after we got our referral we had some friends over to celebrate since we don't have any family up here. This post is obviously a little late but I still wanted to post the pictures. My good friend made me the great cake in the picture.






This is the referral packet and gifts for baby M that we sent off two and a half weeks ago.

A Sweet New Arrival

The first families to travel since the court closures got back last week. One of the moms has a blog and a very cute video of her little girl and our orphanage. Check it out... Here

I was able to talk to this mom, Kendra, about baby M and she said he was really little and he loved to be held. He cried every time that someone put him down. I have been praying that our boy would be a cuddly one. It is good to hear little tid bits about our children even if pictures aren't going to be allowed anymore. I read on another blog that court dates are booked clear through the end of December, so I'm now positive that ours will be January if not February. I really hope it is not February, but I guess we'll wait and see how things go.

Changes

We have been incredibly busy and have not had much time to post in the last few weeks. There hasn't been much going on directly with our adoption, but there have been a lot of changes taking place in the process. Some of these changes will affect us and some might not. One change we are sad to see happen. Families who travel to pick up their children often take pictures or video of the children at Hannah's Hope who have families waiting to travel. This is no longer going to be allowed. It was disappointing to hear this news, but if it is in the best interest of the children we understand. We were looking forward to this very much, but we do have some hope. Our case worker just traveled over to Ethiopia and I think she was going to try to take some pictures for us. Right now we are waiting to be scheduled for a court date which I'm guessing will be in January. We may or may not get to know the date of our court hearing depending on what the new policy is. I'll keep you updated on that. Once we have our court date we will just wait and pray that we pass on the first try so that we can travel as soon as possible.