On Our Way

Homestudy Update - done
Visa approval extension - done
Place to stay in Ethiopia - done
Tickets to go - done

The sights and smells of Ethiopia aren't more than a month away... While everyone takes Christmas vacation, we are saving those days for mini-trips within Ethiopia so that we make the most of our time there. Though we are going for a court date, during which we'll get to tell a judge that we do actually want Micah and that we have seen him in-person and look forward to bringing him home, most of our time will be "free" to roam around the country and learn as much as we can about Ethiopia.

I hope to report back that our adoption is complete and that we are simply waiting on a visa to bring the "wee" one home. All in good time we will find out how much waiting is left and whether or not we will be official when we leave the country. We can only hope, pray, and pack. :)

FINALLY!

Rebecca :)

A Watched Pot Never Boils...

Neither does a watched email. Not that I want my email to boil, but it would be nice if it would deliver news of a court date SOON.

Christmas gifts at our house are nearly all purchased, and contact has been made with those who have not complied with our request for wish lists EARLY this year. We want to travel before Christmas for our first court date; therefore, we are shopping with that very intent. (What will I do in December if we don't have a court date? I guess there are always free lights to see!)

So, I'm back to hitting send/receive hysterically...

Rebecca :)

Referral!

We never expected that our adoption referral would sit quietly in our email inbox as we busily tended to work and school. People often say that the referral comes when it is least expected – and perhaps in our case in a manner that was unexpected. Typically, our email is checked feverishly throughout the day, in anticipation of an impending referral; however, last Wednesday, our email had lain dormant for nearly nine hours while the picture of a beautiful four month old boy waited to be discovered.

Inside our email inbox we discovered a brief description of our little boy and a picture of a chubby, happy, smiling baby being held by one of his nannies.

We know very little about his life prior to coming into AAI’s care last month. What we do know is that he was destined to be a part of our family and that we will be ecstatic to bring him home. We will call him Micah Thomas, a name that seemed fitting after we saw his face for the first time.

The next several months will be challenging as we again wait. Wait for paperwork from the adoption agency; wait for our home study to be updated; wait for a court date; wait for travel arrangements to be made; wait to travel; wait to bring Micah home; however, the next several months also promise to be filled with a rekindled excitement, knowing that there is a face, a name, a child at the end of a long journey – knowing that there are preparations to be made and prayers to be said.
Though the wait has been long, our journey to and with Micah has only begun. We look forward with fear and enthusiasm to the journey and the inevitability of change.

Updating Everything

The call has been made to our social worker, and a homestudy update will soon commence. Our agency has said we won't be home with a child by the end of 2010, let alone by mid-December when our immigration approval expires. So, we're on paperwork round two.

It's hard to believe nearly 16 months have passed since our file went to Ethiopia.

The good news is that being here, in the spot we wished to avoid, isn't nearly as bad as we imagined. We like each other a great deal, so another 6 months of just-the-two-of-us is a blessing we never expected to receive. :)

Rebecca

Number One!

Friday morning while Rebecca and I were out we called AAI for what now seems to be a bi-monthly update. While on the phone, we learned that as of that morning we are officially number one on the waiting list for a boy and number seven on the list for a girl. Although this means that we will still be anxiously waiting for "the call," we were - and are - both extatic to be so close to receiving a referral. We could still wait several months to receive "the call"; however, it is nice to know that we are finally on top of the list.



Ryan

Back to USCIS

It has been just over a year since we were first fingerprinted at the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Office in Oklahoma City. In September our fingerprints will expire. This morning at the appointed times, Rebecca and I made our individual treks back to USCIS to have our fingerprints redone. The fingerprints themselves came and went with little consequence. As I sat in the waiting area, holding my assigned number and waiting to be called, I was struck by the sheer magnificence of being surrounded by individuals from all across the globe - many of whom spoke little English. What a rare experience to be in one's own country, and yet be surrounded by individuals who were so unlike one's self. The experience was both awe-inspiring and humbling.

At the moment, there seems to be little movement on "the list." In the next few weeks, the courts in Ethiopia will again close for the rainy season, not to reopen until sometime in September or October. In the meantime we will continue to wait (sometimes patiently, sometimes not so patiently) in anticipation of what is sure to come.

Ryan

Fourteen Months and Counting

Each day begins the same, with a speedy check of our "Yahoo Group," a giant online email group of adoptive or waiting-to-adopt parents working with our adoption agency. The question is always the same - Has ANYONE heard ANYTHING?

Thankfully, in the last few weeks, the answer has been "Yes." Two families have received referrals of baby girls. Others have received referrals of 4-5 year-old boys. This knowledge gives us hope that things are moving and that paperwork will eventually be completed on children already in care, meaning we will likely EVENTUALLY get a call.

In the meantime, we would love to say we have waited patiently, but it simply isn't the truth. Some days we have waited patiently. Other days we have waited VERY impatiently. Other days we have enjoyed being "just the two of us" a bit longer, taking full advantage of the ease with which we hop in and out of the car to do pretty much whatever we want.

Fourteen months have passed since all of our paperwork was complete for the adoption and in an envelope to Ethiopia. Twenty months have passed since our very first application arrived at our adoption agency. We have not yet been matched with a child, but surely we are nearing the end. Surely...

Rebecca :)