We are beyond thrilled to announce that on 11/16/09, we officially accepted the referral of our second child! Praise the Lord!!Chaltu is from the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. She is "about 2 years old" (her actual birthday will be decided by the judge at the hearing) and is tiny. She is about 30 inches tall and only about 22 lbs. What a contrast to the AlinaJayne the Chinese Amazon! She is described as a good sleeper who eats well, loves her bath, and rarely cries unless something really traumatizes her. She plays well with others and walks by herself. She has been in care since early October. Due to Ethiopian adoption law, we cannot post a picture of her until after we pass court and are her legal parents. In the meantime, let me just say she is a cutie-bald as can be (shaved-so much for AlinaJayne being able to do her hair right away), but adorable. Big chunky cheeks and huge soulful eyes.
The next step is a court date, which *may* be filed in the next month or so. I know there have been many delays and failed court hearings for babies referred from this region due to new, stricter guidelines. In fact, we were approved for a baby aged 0-30 mos, and the agency called to say we need to update our homestudy to reflect that we are approved for a baby as old as 4 years old-we JUST updated it on 10/23 (sigh). So it looks like they are anticipating delays!
We are not making this public on Facebook for privacy reasons. In all honesty, not all of my FB friends are privy to this info. All updates will be posted here on the blog as soon as we receive them.
We are expecting to receive the official referral package tomorrow. We are hoping for some more pics-we only have one! Deciding on a name now. we thought we had it figured out, but now we are back and forth between two.
The wait has a whole new twist now!!
Praying that the Lord will keep her safe until she can be home forever.
Check back soon!
