We leave in 11 days

Wow - 19 days have passed since we received our court date. It has been a crazy time around here. Within 48 hours of finding out the news we had booked 3 round trip tickets to Addis Ababa and 4 nights stay at the Yebsabi Guest house. I bought a new camera to take pictures and video - a Canon. It is awesome I love it and can't wait to use it to take pictures of our little girl and the other children with waiting families.

I have to admit it has been a hard stage. It is crazy how each milestone we reach in this process continues to be a relief and an opening of what I will call "discomfort". It is really uncomfortable falling in love with a child half way across the world. Don't get me wrong - it is easy to fall in love with her; she is beautiful, sweet and everything I dreamed about. But she is in Ethiopia and I am here, and that is really uncomfortable. I just want to be with her, I want to meet her for the first time. I want to know how big is she really? How soft are her cheeks (I think about this one a lot - I guess because I just love cheeks - Sammy can attest to that!)?

I have been worrying about her birth father a lot. We have been praying for him, we have a whole team of amazing friends praying for him and her birth sisters. Praying that he will be comforted in this time that must be very difficult for him. And we have been praying that we will get to meet him at court. We found out a week ago that birth families will have the same court date/time as adoptive families. Wow I was not expecting this!

Originally we were told that with the new court travel requirement the birth families would have a court date 2-4 weeks before the adoptive families so that you would be sure to pass court when you traveled. Apparently that changed. So now we will be sitting in a room waiting our turn to go into court - watching all of the birth parents go in, and then come out having relinquished their children. It's an act I can't imagine having the heart to do - yet I admire their self sacrifice to insure their children will live. I think about that day with anxious anticipation. Anxious because I know it will not be comfortable to witness the relinquishment, yet anticipating the time when we get to say yes - we will bring our Angel into our family, our home and our hearts forever.

International Adoption is such an amazing act. Two families from two sides of the globe. One saying I need to provide a way for my child to live, I need someone to find a family for her. One family saying we will provide a way for a child to live, whatever child you gift us with. Two families separated by 8,000 miles and brought together for the love of a child. What an amazing thing......only God could dream this big.

I am so glad He is with us.

Court Date!

We are so happy to announce we have a court date! I received the news while shopping in Target (of course). We travel in 5 weeks. We have our court date on November 12th. I am so happy and excited about the date, it is much earlier than I thought it might be and it gives me hope that she will be home before we know it.

For those of you who don't know, after we pass court we wait another 6-8 weeks until we get an appointment at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, and after our embassy appointment we will bring her home.

Cheers to entering my third trimester :)

Pink fabric, Coconut Oil and Acupuncture

What the heck do you do while waiting for the Ethiopian government to give you a court date? Its officially killing me waiting. It has been two months since we received our referral for our little angel. Yes, 6 of those 8 weeks the courts were closed for the rainy season so I knew we would be waiting a long time for our court date, but man, now that they are back open I am officially anxious again.

As much as it stinks now that the weeks have passed, it was a lot easier to wait when I knew the courts were closed and therefore I knew we wouldn't hear anything about a court date. Now that they are open again the floodgates of emotion are open as well.

So what have I been filling my time with? Lets see....

I pray for her everyday. I pray that she is happy, healthy and protected. I pray for her dad and her sisters. I pray that we will receive a court date soon so that she can come home.

Then I think about her all the time. The weeks are going by fast - which is a good thing, because every week that passes we are closer to the end, but every week that passes is another week that she is not home with us, that we are not able to shower her with love.

Then I pray for her.

I have been experimenting with different kinds of oils for her hair when she gets home. So far I have tried out coconut oil - which if you don't know is an amazing moisturizer for your skin and hair. But I don't really like the scent - so next will be on to Almond oil.

Then I pray for her.

I have tried to learn to cook Ethiopian food. I made Niter Kibeh and Ethiopian Collard Greens. Next I will try cooking Atar Allecha.

Then I pray for her.

I spent 4 hours picking out pink fabric with my mom for a quilt she is making for our little angel.

Then I pray for her.

I spent three days straight piecing together, sewing and quilting another quilt for our dear friend John who has Leukemia (thanks for the help mom!)

Then I pray for her (and praying for you too John and your family every day.)

We went to two appointments to get the family vaccinated for our travels to Ethiopia.

Then I pray for her.

I have had many appointments for acupuncture (which really helps in the waiting place - I can't recommend it stronger for all other waiting mommas).

I have looked at airline tickets (even though we don't know when we will be traveling)

Then I pray for her.
Sometimes the prayers are simple, sometimes they are long and drawn out, begging, pleading, bargaining, hoping, crying, asking. Sometimes they are just the words, "I trust you, I need you, I wait upon you".

Every night I snuggle up to a little blanket I bought for her. I imagine what it will be like to have her little body snuggled up to mine.

I'm continuing to read up on how to connect with and parent an adopted child. Mike and I have also during this time decided to bring David with us when we go to Ethiopia for court. We are so excited to share Africa with him for the first time. We are excited to educate him on what it truly means to be an orphan in Ethiopia. We are ecstatic that he will be able to meet her when we do. We are so happy that he will understand his little sister's heritage and be able to share in that with her. We have also decided recently that we are going to make it a family goal to travel, (as a family) to Ethiopia and/or Kenya every 3 years as part of our family identity over the next 15-20 years that we will have our children living at home with us.

So that is what I have been filling my time with. What have I been filling my mind with?

I'm trying really hard to keep my hope that this will all come to fruition and soon. I'm trying my best to patiently wait for "the call" again. It is really hard to stay positive and every days that passes is harder. But I know that I'm doing the easy work. Just chugging through the daily grind of my blessed life. She is the one alone, and I cry for her little feet. But I know that she is not totally alone. He is with her, He is guarding her body and spirit. He will bring His plan to completion.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
He rises to show you compassion.
For the Lord is the God of Justice
Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18

He is with you baby, He sees you baby - keep waiting, and I'm here, waiting for you. Love, Mommy