Absence explained.........

Hello all,

It has been a LONG time since I have posted. I want to bring you up to date on what has been going on and why I have been absent from the business of blogging.

As some of you may know, AlinaJayne has been sick a lot this cold and flu season. It seems like this normally healthy child has caught every bug imaginable this season. The last time was March 31st to April 5th. She had a high fever , 2 severe nosebleeds a day and headache. We took her to the ER on April 4th for a nosebleed that would not stop, and they completely dismissed us. Sent us home with a nose clamp. No labs, no testing. Being a Nurse Practitioner, I struggled to maintain my professionalism. After this last round of sickeness, she saw the doc, and I asked for labs to be checked. Her white blood cell study came back last Friday, and was markedly abnormal. There are a handful of possible causes for this, and unfortunately, of the possible reasons, leukemia is one of them. I made an appointment for her to see a pediatric oncologist this week.

Fast forward to he evening of Monday 4/12. She woke up in bed, grabbed her head screaming "it hurts so bad, make it stop" and simultaneously projectile vomited. While we were trying to get her ready to go to the ER, she continued to hold her head and scream and vomit. She had a CT scan in the ER and blood work (at this time her white cells were normal again, so the ER doc did not think she needed to see the oncologist), and was admitted for further testing. She had a brain MRI, EEG, and a LOT of blood work. Saw and ENT and neurologist. The tests were normal, the ENT said she has large, fragile veins in her nose that are easily ruptured and not to worry about that (thank God), and she was diagnosed with migraines. On top of this, while she was in for all of the above, she developed some sort of stomach issue, and had 15 watery stools in 2 days-for which they could find no cause-thank God she had an IV. To our disappointment, her white cell count is markedly abnormal again, and she will need to see the hematologist/oncologist.


She came home Thursday PM, and is acting fine now. I really feel bad that a 5 year old has migraines (I have had them for 25 years), but our biggest concern is obviously ruling out leukemia. We are praying that it is only a congenital disorder. The tough part is not having any birth history to tell the physicians about.

Needless to say, we appreciate all prayers and positive thoughts.

I will post an adoption update soon. I feel ChallieJayne deserves her own posting.

More later.

More 02/01/10 News!

We found out today that Chaltu's case PASSED COURT! Praise GOD!

What does this mean? According to Ethiopian law, we are legally her parents! We still have a LOOOOOONNNNGGG way to go in the process. We found out on Tuesday that there have been some errors on the part of the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) in updating the immigration approval. We were originally approved to adopt a child up to 30 months-but once we accepted the referral of Chaltu, we had to update the approval to reflect an older child. We found out Tuesday that USCIS did not receive all of the documentation needed to update the approval. We are praying that this is resolved soon. This must be done before any of the "usual" steps can be taken to bring her home-and that process is lengthy. So lengthy that we are not even telling our employers, most families, or posting on Facebook-we just don't have any concrete answers about *when* this will happen. Plus, those who are not familiar with adoption tend to not understand the process, and it makes for a difficult wait.

So you say you want details? Her tentative b-day is May 7, 2007. Her name is Chaltu, we will name her ChaltuJayne Keaton Baird, and will call her ChallieJayne/Challie for short. Like "Charlie" without the "R." Like my Dad (Charles) and my Mom (Jayne).

Now that the court case has passed, we can post pictures :O) Thanks to all of the families who have traveled to Ethiopia, we have 53 pictures of ChallieJayne. However, I need to scan them, so only a handful are digitized. That is going to take me some time to do!

So, until then, enjoy the photos I have posted. I have included a caption under each, and you can click on any pic to enlarge it.

Check back again!


The first picture we saw of ChallieJayne-referral


The second referral picture


Ethiopian Christmas


ChallieJayne with the gifts we sent her in her welcome bag-photo album, ladybug and t-shirt that says "Special Delivery From Ethiopia."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALINAJAYNE-02/01/10!

Today our girl turns 5! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were receiving our referral from China, for a "baby girl who just turned 13 months old."

We baked cupcakes for her school snack on Monday. Well, I baked and frosted, and AlinaJayne was in charge of the detail work-like the sprinkles and conversations hearts. I think they turned out pretty cute :O)

Time sure does fly. I keep telling her that I want her to stay little forever, that I want her to be my baby girl just a little longer. But she reminds me "Mama, I've got to grow up, I can't stay little forever."

She is right. So I cherish these fleeting moments.

We love you our sweet girl!

We'll post more pics later-small party for Grandparents on Saturday.

Here's the scoop

Here's the scoop on this seemingly never-ending adoption process.

Chaltu was supposed to have her day in court on January 6th. None of the cases scheduled for that week were heard. Some were re-scheduled for February 1st, some were "pending." Ours was allegedly re-scheduled for January 14th.

January 14th came and went, and you guessed it-no news. Was her case heard? Wasn't it heard? Did it pass? Did it fail? Our agency said "they did not know anything. Period.

Being "seasoned" adoptive parents, we tried to sit back and be patient. However when other families found out Monday that they had court dates THIS Wednesday January 27th, and then they passed (praise God for those families and their great news), we decided it was time to make some noise.

Matt called our agency Thursday and once again, he was told they did not know anything, and that a lot of families were in this limbo that we are, but for a lot longer. He pressed the issue. Was the case heard on January 14th? If it did not pass, why? When might it be re-scheduled? The agency rep said she'd contact the attorney in Ethiopia to see what she could find out.

Turns out, there was some documentation missing from the file (nothing we missed, on Ethiopia's end) and that the case was scheduled to be heard again on Monday February 1st...........AlinaJayne's 5th birthday!

Could be an even more exciting day than usual.

Praying for God's perfect timing.

Miss you Mom.......................

"May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, May the rains fall soft upon your fields, And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the Palm of His hand." Miss you Mom, more than you can ever know......Jayne Anne Keaton (Alderman)
08/25/1948-01/18/2000..................

Ten years ago today, my Mom went home to be with our Lord and Savior. I miss her more than anyone can imagine.

No word whatsoever about whether or not our case was heard in court on 1/14.

Will post when we know something.

No Dice.................

We found out on Wednesday that there was no good news-we did not pass court. That is all our agency knew as of the close of business. They knew if the other families who were also scheduled for a court hearing had failed, were pending, or were re-scheduled-but did not know what *our* status was! Not a lot of useful information :O(

We did find out today that none of the cases that were supposed to be heard this week actually passed. It seems they were all missing required letters from the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA).

Our case has been re-scheduled for January 14th.

Stay tuned.

Oh, and Merry Christmas (Melkam Gena). It is Christmas in Ethiopia.

Wednesday 01/06/10

Wednesday will be a big day for us. This is the day that Chaltu's case is heard in court in Ethiopia. *IF* we pass, we will be her legal parents, and can move forward with the adoption process.

On top of that, our USCIS (Immigration) fingerprints are being re-taken on the same day. Nothing is wrong, they need to be updated every 15 mos until and adoption is completed, so this is the day the government randomly assigned to us for our appointment. Funny these two major events ended up happening on the exact same day-a half a world apart, and without our input.

Coincidence? I think not.

Please pray for positive outcomes for all of us~once we have been notified that we have passed court, we can post pics! YEAH! We just saw three new ones of her today-all the kiddos lined up on potties for a bathroom break. Too cute! Looks like her hair is coming in nicely-and it is all TIGHT curls. I am not even going to TRY to figure it out-I am asking Auntie Dawn for her help!

Check back soon :O)

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!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like CHRISTmas!

Hello all!

I am finally feeling like I am accomplishing some of the Christmas season tasks. Tree up-CHECK. Outside decorated-CHECK. Christmas cards designed & ordered-CHECK. Stamps ordered:CHECK! Shopping finished: (almost)CHECK!

Part of my work to get the Christmas cards done was finally taking some pics of AlinaJayne in her Christmas dress. I finally did that today. It took a lot of work, since she is always moving and saying "Merry Christmas everyone, Happy Birthday Jesus!" But I think they turned out okay.

Hmmm....next year I will have two schoochy kiddos to take pics of! Something tells me it will be worth the struggle :O)

 

Giving Thanks............

On this day of thanks, I have so many things to be thankful for. First and foremost, I give thanks to God for always proving me all that I need-I have more blessings than I deserve-in fact, I cannot begin to list them all here.

I have recently found myself giving even more thanks than usual for our daughter. Although I have had "scholarly" articles published nationally, I cannot ever seem to find the words to express my thanks for our daughter AlinaJayne. My cousin sent me a link to this article today-on Thanksgiving no less, and I just had to share it.

I listen to NPR many times each day, and I had no idea that one of my favorite correspondents (Scott Simon) has children adopted from China. He also mentioned Oromia (in Ethiopia) where our youngest daughter (waiting for us) is from.

I will defer these words of thanks to Mr. Simon.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Signed, Sealed Delivered!

......well, on its way at least!

We made it to the Notary, signed all of the forms, completed a questionnaire and scanned all of the documents (oh, wrote another check too), and the official referral paperwork is on its way to our agency's office.

Now what you ask? Wait. And wait some more. Now we are waiting for our day in court. Which could be a few months from now. I try not to think about it too much, but the *real* wait truly starts now. We know who are daughter is now, and it is so hard to know she will be there for another 9 or more months until all of the red tape is done and she can come home. Agonizing.

We are supposed to send her a "welcome bag" containing a shirt, a couple small toys and a photo album-it all has to fit into a gallon sized ziplock bag. We ordered a soft photo album tonight (we got the same kind for AlinaJayne when we went to China), and a T-shirt that says "Special Delivery From Ethiopia." Now I need to find some pics. I need about 12. The problem will be choosing 12 from the thousands I have taken! I'll be working on that this week.

So, this was not a lot to report, but I wanted to share this small step in the long journey to bring our daughter home.

Check back soon.

Signing the referral paperwork

REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE!!

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!

A year?

I haven't been posting a lot on this blog lately. I guess there has not been a whole lot to report, so I have just avoided it so I would not have to be reminded of this seemingly interminable wait. However, I was reminded by a friend today that I needed to update this blog (thanks for keeping me in line Katie Jo), so here it is :O)

Saturday 11/14 will mark the one year anniversary of our DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia). Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that we were paperchasing to bring our second child home-but at the same time, it feels like an eternity. We've already had a homestudy update, and we just received a reminder from our agency that we will need to be re-fingerprinted soon-and that we'll need to file for an extension on our I-171 if our child is not home by May. MAY?!!!

We have watched as the wait for a referral gets longer (like in did when we started in the China program in 2005), other families receive referrals, court dates, travel and get settled in at home. Here we still are..........

I do want to share some info. A few weeks ago (11/2), we received a referral for a beautiful 2 or 2 1/2 year old girl. We accepted her file for review, and discovered some potentially significant medical issues. After a lot of talking, e-mails back and forth between the agency and more talking, we decided we had to decline the referral (referral/declination #2). We asked for more medical info on her, but could not easily obtain it. The agency director e-mailed us and asked us if we wanted to wait for more medical updates on this child, or start waiting for another referral. We said we just wanted to wait for another.

However, we could not get her out of our minds. Yes, it appears she has some major health issues-a few of which Matt and I are unlikely able to provide for (and we may not even have been approved for), but we felt that maybe the Lord was placing this child and our "second guessing" on our hearts for a reason. We had already told the director we could not proceed, to put us "back on the list," but it just did not *feel* right (keep in mind I am all about trying to control EVERYTHING). We e-mailed the director and asked her to not refer a new child to us right now, and that we wanted to wait for more testing/results, and a consultation with an International Adoption Physician before a final decision was made on this child. The physician will be reviewing the medical records this weekend.

Please pray for us as we prepare for the report from this physician. Pray that the Lord will guide her and give her knowledge as she reviews the complex medical facts. But most importantly, please pray for this child in Ethiopia, and for all children in need of forever families.

Please also consider supporting one of these organizations that provide orphan support. It isn't about one person giving a large sum-but about many people doing a small part.


Love coffee? Check out how you can support an orphan in Ghana, China, Ethiopia or Thailand . Find out how you can help orphans in Ethiopia, Colombia, Vietnam, Russia or India. Or HIV positive orphans.
Need Angel Gear? Just need to do some last minute Christmas Shopping?

We do have one request. If you are also on Facebook, please do not post any public comments to our wall with specific info about this or any other referral. That's not to say that general comments about the wait, etc, are note welcome-they are! Just no "specifics." We are trying to keep details private. Detailed private e-mails and private FB messages are great!

So there is the update. Thanks for dropping by and check back soon!