Christmas News!!!

We received some unexpected news this AM. Our agency e-mailed us late last night to tell us we have a court date in Ethiopia! Our case will be heard JANUARY 6th!

We are still not sharing this info with many people. SO MANY things can happen......Most people know we have been in the process for a very long time, so this is not a top secret activity. However, there are so many unknowns in international adoption, it just does not make any sense to share too much info when we really don't know all that much. There just is not any concrete info to share with family and friends. In fact, I think there are actually many more unknowns than there were with AlinaJayne's adoption from China. With that program, you have definite dates and info in a fairly predictable fashion. With Ethiopia, the entire process is different. We know we have a court date-but we may fail on the first date and have to wait for a second, third, etc. We have no idea when homecoming may be (plus our child will be escorted, adding more time). Spring? Summer? We can't even tell our employers anything yet-we don't have any idea what the timing might be, and it makes no sense to say "hey, we have a court date and we *might* pass court, and we will need some time off, but we don't know when." It makes more sense to wait for real dates-that part of the process is very frustrating.

On another note. A waiting family from our agency is in Ethiopia right now visiting. I forgot that they were going, and forgot to ask them ahead of time to take some pics of Chaltu. I sent them a message the other day after they arrived in Ethiopia-and found out that they had not only already taken pics of her, but they held her for almost an hour! They said she pretty much smiles ALL THE TIME!

So much to be thankful for...........and SO MUCH TO DO!!!

Merry Christmas!

Sent with LOVE!

Part of the fun in this process, is being able to send a "welcome" bag to your new child. The agency asks that you send a couple of smaller toys for younger kids, a photo album, and a t-shirt (or onesie if your child is really young), as well as a letter. We ordered a photo album that was similar to the one that we took to AlinaJayne when we met her in China, and a special t-shirt. Everything finally arrived, so I spent the night labeling photos, filling the photo album, and packing the bag. We figured she was still too young for a letter, so Mama just used a laundry marker and wrote captions in the photo album. Oh.....we had to fit it all in a one gallon Ziploc bag *without* stress. THAT was the hard part!

Here is what we sent.....................

(click on the image to make it bigger)

 

Submitted

On Wednesday 12/2 we received an unexpected e-mail from our agency. The coordinator in Ethiopia notified them that they requested a court date in Ethiopia for our daughter's case. Yes, this is good news-we were told that generally families know in a week or two *when* the date is (and that the actual court date is typically 4-6 weeks after the date was requested). We should be jumping for joy.

But.......we also found out from our Homestudy agency (a few hours before we even knew a court date had been requested in Ethiopia)that since we need to formally update our immigration approval to reflect the older child we have accepted, as well as a few other specifics that were not addressed in the original homestudy, that we not only need to to this NOW, but should plan to wait at least 90 days for it to be adjudicated. Without the update to our original approval, she may pass court, but will not be able to obtain the visa needed to travel to the US for as long as it takes for the amendment to be done in MI and sent to Ethiopia. Then we are looking at another delay-even if all off the immigration paperwork is fine, and she can enter the USA, we need a second document provided by our home state of Michigan, that gives us permission to take the child from the port of entry into the US (likely Chicago) to our home state in Michigan. Add to that, *this* whole process has been taking about 3 months. And this isn't the worse case scenario-this will all be happening after (I am guessing) several court failures/delays, due to the region in Ethiopia where our new daughter is from.

Needless to say, this is going to be a bumpy ride. And a slow one too. So pull up a chair and wait with us!