COURT DATE!!

This week we were anticipating a court date for our case on Monday and were just a bundle of nerves when we got the call that.....court was rescheduled for the next day, January 23. Arghhh! It's almost laughable now how often things don't go as planned. We breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't bad news and we just had to wait one more day. Tuesday all went well and we were granted the judge's approval to proceed with our case! This was what we've been waiting on for months! It was an additional day before we found out the actual day we need to be there. February 27 is our court date!

It's been sort of surreal and a slow realization coming over us that this is really happening. After so long I feel like I need to pinch myself that it's here! We are making travel arrangements and will be going a few days early to meet our girl! So, the countdown chain is up and we have about 30 days to prepare to leave.

Our kids have been just amazing considering it's a hard concept to understand for their little minds but to see their prayers answered is special to us. Harlyn has been praying for this adoption for all the time she can remember as well as Asher. She has a sensitive spirit that can easily cry because she wants her sister home. Asher recently said to me sometimes he prays for Samira "before he even gets out of bed in the morning" -- they really share this dream with us. I've been consciously trying to drop calling Lawson the baby since he won't be in about a month and we refer to Samira as the baby. He knows her picture and now points to bottles and babyish things and says "Mira's ______"! His world is about to be rocked but for now he seems to be going along with it! :)

When telling friends and family who have been praying for us we kept hearing a common theme-God is good! We agree--God has been so very good to us! Sharing this news has been what we've wanted to do for so long!

news and prep

If you have seen in the news, a sad announcement was made last week that Ethiopia would no longer continue to allow international adoption as an option for orphans.  (Link to article: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/10/577144605/ethiopian-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-foreign-adoptions) The news saddens us greatly as it means some kids will no longer have a chance to live with a loving family. A lot of families are greatly upset and understandably emotional about this decision as they have been waiting in this process a long time like us. As far as we know, our case is secure because of the point we are at in the process and Ethiopia will let those adoptions be completed. Our second adoption process we started with another agency, if you recall, almost 2 years ago now will be ended—which is sad because it means no sibling for Samira that will look like her and be from the same culture. (Not that we were there yet but we were open to the possibility) We are so thankful our case continues to be processed but it’s heavy on our hearts what it could mean for the kids left with no parents coming for them.

As we wait for our court date I have officially been labeled as “nesting” and if it’s much longer, I may have the whole house repainted. Its kept me busy prepping our family/home/lives for a new little one when our travel date has been uncertain. As far as prepping for a one year old goes, thankfully her age is so close to Lawson’s that we don’t feel too out of it as to what a one year old needs, etc. Having Harlyn and Asher 18 months apart helped with being prepared for two crib users…etc.  I have begun gathering things we will need for travelling which is making it all the more real that the call will come and then it will be fast and furious planning. We will be in country for an undetermined amount of time as we are doing this a different way than a lot of families before us. Usually the parents appear in court, visit their child and then fly home awaiting the other steps of the process to be completed before returning to ET and taking the child home. We are opting to do it all in one trip, therefore we buy a one way ticket because our return date will be unknown. The things that have to happen after court like embassy appointments, visa issuance, etc. have a domino effect so if one thing gets held up, the whole timeline shifts. They tell us to pack for 3 weeks—it hopefully will be less but could even be more.  Packing for this trip will be tough but we will try to keep it minimal so we can bring as many donations for the orphanages as we can. Our plan will be to take a large suitcase just filled with donations and donate the bag there and fit our stuff in the others.

If you are local and would like to be so generous and help send anything for the kiddos living in Samira’s orphanage, we’d be happy to deliver them on your behalf. If her orphanage does not need them, our agency staff in country there will help distribute to the ones who need the supplies most. We are ready to start gathering these things so keep an eye out for these things and connect up with Troy or myself if you want to send! (Or one of our parents--they can get it to us)

Donations the orphanage needs are as follows:
Powdered infant formula (any brand or kind)
Diapers-disposable or cloth
Pain relief medications
Baby food
New or slightly used clothing and shoes
Diaper rash cream
Scabies cream
Lice shampoo
Powdered Pedialyte
Hydrocortisone cream
Antibiotic cream
Prescription fungal infection medication

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say this probably my whole life, but thank you for your heartfelt prayers and concern about this journey for us. We value and appreciate it more than you will ever know. Continue to lift up Ethiopia’s vulnerable children and pray about a way you might get involved to help orphan prevention and family preservation. In light of the recent news it will be so much more important, I believe, to support those causes and organizations doing that work on the ground there.  I hope to become more informed on who is doing that type of work there and hope to promote their causes all the more.

This is the Year

We’ve been a little lower profile on updates since things were not turning out as we were hoping or sharing with others. After Thanksgiving with the big disappointment of that weekend’s events in Ethiopia, December was looming before us and I was dreading it. I had really been mentally preparing to be gone from the country, missing out on many Christmas activities, Troy had saved up his vacation for our trip and so it was a tough adjustment to know we would not be travelling that month. In the end it did go quickly and all the festivities of Christmas probably helped it pass. The biggest heartache was just wanting to be with our little girl so we could celebrate with her and start our life with her!  Last Christmas was hard after losing the referral of Meskerem and this Christmas had another ache because we were missing Samira.

2018 has come and we have renewed hope as good progress has been made on our case. Our agency is very optimistic about our case and we really hope we will be travelling no later than next month. If you were to tell me on March 29^th, 2017 that it would be 11 months before meeting our daughter I may have thrown in the towel, been in despair, or just felt hopeless.  It’s crazy to us it’s been almost that long but the little dates we’d countdown to each time we had a court date or something go on with our case have made it manageable. Although I’d always say to know the date we will go would be so nice to mentally prepare for, I see God’s grace in protecting us from that now. It has kept us on our knees, asking God for His hand in every step since our referral. Things not going as good as they could have would get us down but they did give us smaller goals to look toward until the next appointment or court date. Right now we are praying in the next few weeks the judge has all he needs for our case and will set our court date to appear before him.

We hope the end is in sight…..we are feeling very ready at this point and are eager to start bonding with this precious girl!