Court Date!!

Natalie called today. Of course, I answered the phone in the middle of class when I heard that special unknown caller ring. It is scheduled for April 17th. I'll be holding my breath until then, hoping that the adoption goes through on the first try.

Baby Updates!

So my plan to post this week almost got thwarted with the tornado that blew through town this weekend. The power went off on Friday night. Luckily we escaped to my mother-in-law’s house. It is back two days later. Luckily we didn’t have any damage to our house. It did leave many trees down around the area. Interestingly enough the power never went off at my mother-in-law’s even though she is a mere mile from the hardest hit part of the city. Anyway, here we are at our fourth week of waiting for a court date. I’ve been going crazy lately, as I am aware that many of our blog friends have been waiting about 8 weeks and still have not heard anything about their court dates. This makes me incredibly sad. We have gotten 1 update so far from Gladney with a new picture. But more exciting, is our most recent update (we got it today!!) from a fellow Gladney family, the Atwoods, that traveled to pick up their son. They did us an amazing favor by bringing the baby a care package from us to Ethiopia and taking some pictures of the little angel for us. She had her new bear, blanket, and pictures of us with her in the photos. Thank you, Atwoods! Both of the comments we’ve received about her mention her gorgeous eyes. I have to say, she really is so beautiful. The Gladney representative said she was a very sweet and calm baby. That sounds wonderful to me! This has brightened my day and left me more hopeful. I am just so thankful for this whole experience and hope that we can have that baby in our arms sooner rather than later.

What's next??

Well, it has been a week since our referral. It has been a relief to finally have that picture and know some information about our future little girl. I’ve been asked by everyone, what will happen next? Also, when are you leaving? The next step in the process is to wait for a court date. When we accepted the referral last Friday, Natalie said she would inform the in country staff so that they can schedule a date. It is taking about a month to find out the date, which is usually a month from then. Doing the math, it will be about two months until a court date. This is a lot longer than we originally expected. Last spring, it was only about a month between referral and travel. How quickly things change in the world of adoption! I can only assume that this is because there are many more cases to hear as Ethiopian adoptions are growing in popularity. If the court date is successful the first time, we would leave about a month later. Many cases are postponed and rescheduled for a variety of reasons. Hopefully it will be about three months until we travel. I know that this will be the real wait. We are staying positive (so far) and trying to remain patient. I just hope everything works out and she stays happy and healthy at The Gladney Foster Home.

REFERRAL!!!!!

Yesterday was it!!
Natalie called to tell us about our (hopefully!) future daughter. She is 4 1/2 months old and the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on. We accepted the referral right away. She looks so healthy and happy. I know they are taking wonderful care of her at the Gladney center. To say the least, we are soooooo EXCITED!
About the call:
I got the call while driving home from the mall. I was with my mom who was up from Florida to help me get the baby's room together. I was not expecting it at all. About two weeks ago, my mom was saying how great it would be if we got the referral while she was here. I highly doubted that we would get the call on the one and only day she is here. I was shocked when the phone rang with the UNKNOWN caller ring and almost died when I heard Natalie's voice. I was in a state of disbelief when she said she had some exciting news. We conferenced Chris in, but had to wait because we weren't by the computer. We went straight home (trying to drive as safely as possible) to wait for Natalie to call us back at 5:00pm. My mom was hysterical! She had just had a dream about the baby and couldn't believe her luck at being with us. Chris picked up his mom and we were all together when Natalie called. It was about 5:15, as she was on another call. When we opened the email, it was pure joy. We already had reservations at a fancy restaurant (for my mother-in-law's birthday/Valentine's Day), so it was a perfect night of celebration!

Thank you!

It has been great reading everyone’s supportive comments. I really needed that! I have been keeping up with reading everyone’s blogs and hoping for some referrals. However, I haven’t been able to comment at work (my mother-in-law doesn’t have a computer at home), so I thought I’d just say thank you here and let all those other waiting families know that I am thinking of them during this time.

Here at four months

4 months
AKA
17 weeks
It has been really difficult to be patient during this process. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is because of my expectations. Being a constant blog watcher, I have seen others get their referrals at an earlier time. Although I kept telling myself not to expect to have the same luck, I’ve hoped for it anyway. It is hard being hopeful everyday and then nothing. No phone call and no idea what will be. At this point, the hope is dwindling out of me. It feels like it just isn’t going to happen anytime soon. I spoke with Natalie at Gladney this week. She is very understanding and answered some of my questions. She can’t tell me anything about our possible wait time except that they are still trying to keep the 3 to 5 month time frame. Of course this means things could go even longer than 5 months before we hear any news. It is hard to plan anything because we just don’t know what will happen. To be honest, I’m even a little afraid to set up the baby’s room. I don’t think I can look at it for the next few months. We have been staying with my mother-in-law. I keep saying that we don’t want her to be alone, but I just can’t stand our empty house.

Ok, enough of my pity party!! Our house was not that empty this weekend. Our foster son, R. and his sister came for a weekend visit. I didn’t even know how much I missed him until he was back. It felt like home again. We stayed at our house so they could play outside and with their games. Yesterday we went roller skating. They did not know how to skate, so there was a lot of falling down. R. requested sushi for dinner since his dad doesn’t eat that kind of food. It made me feel good that we’ve left our mark on him! He misses his friends, his old school, and day care. I do think he is adjusting well and enjoying being with his extended family. I hope he comes back soon!!

15 Weeks and Waiting

We are into our 15th week of waiting. The beginning of January was difficult with R. gone but we are adjusting. We’ve rearranged the house and plan to spend some extra time with my mother-in-law. Hopefully we will hear something soon about the little babe. Every time I call my mom she has had a hopeful tone in her voice. I think she might be thinking about this baby as much as I am! I know it will be difficult even after the referral. Then we have to wait for a court day and pray it goes through. After that I will on pins and needles to get over there. I’m already really excited about the trip. In other news, we went to lunch with an Ethiopian adoption group last Saturday. It is a huge group and the people are all awesome. It is wonderful for us and will be wonderful for our children to have this group of people. The children were all beautiful, happy, and smiling!