Bead Machine

[don't forget to check my "life" blog - someone had a birthday!]

My mad hair skills are improving. After over a year, I finally braved the world of ... beads! So fun! :)

Still pretty geeked...

=)

=)

=)

Now I can't wait to finalize travel plans! I wish things could be set in stone a little quicker! (aren't I the epitome of patience? ha!)

Thank you EVERYONE for the wonderful comments, emails and facebook messages! It makes this whole experience even more fun knowing that others are celebrating with us! :)

It's a Miracle

She is ours! She is ours! I can't come up with anything more coherent than that! :)

Welcome to our family Selamawit! :0)

Anxious already....

I hope we don't have to wait too long for court news! I'm anxious already. =(

Connections... and an Update!

We just got home a bit ago from a playdate at a fellow adoptive family's home. (Thanks so much for having us Mary!) It was quite a gathering (10 families? 15? More? No idea!) of families who have adopted from Ethiopia. Now, over the past few years I've gotten to know quite a few different families in the area that have adopted from ET - and yet, I didn't know a SINGLE person there when I first got there (and we were late...) I did end up knowing a few and made some new friends. But just goes to show how BIG the ET adoption community has grown - and continues to grow. Wonderful.

We had a lot of fun, played with some amazing kids, talked to some fabulous parents and just generally enjoyed ourselves. Just a great reminder to keep these connections open. I could share my court frustrations with people that actually understood! It was liberating. :)

As for my "update" ... I'm hesitant to even share it since I'm sure it will backfire on me! But I can't help but get my hopes up. I got an email from our agency yesterday - the documents we've been waiting for are in! This should give MOWA ample time to review and prepare the letter for court on Tuesday.

I'm realistic. These documents might not be what MOWA is looking for. Or there might be an error. Or MOWA may want even more information. Or the court could decide something else is missing. There is no guaranty that this is it.

But it has to happen eventually right? This really COULD be it????

If we pass on Tuesday, I think we would travel mid-July, but probably more likely the last week of July.

I cannot wait to have her home. I've just been missing her lately. All these things I was looking forward to sharing with her this summer. Camping. Beach. Catching the first lightening bugs. Family movie nights... there is just this empty spot where she is supposed to be.

We've got to be in the homestretch. Right? Right????

Branching Out

Well, we started this blog to chronicle our adoption experience, but it has really turned into a "life" blog. For some reason, this drives me nuts (I know, I'm dumb). Maybe because all the adoption news has been so depressing? Tends to drag down daily life a bit... :(

So, I have moved our "life" stuff over here (www.atypical-family.blogspot.com). Obviously I'll still be posting here since we are still in the middle of an adoption (sadly, for awhile more yet I fear) but I hope to gradually move to the "life" blog...

I posted a few things over there this morning to get it going. Feel free to check out my laundry solutions and one of the perks to being a mom in my house! :)

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." ~Anthony Brandt~

Also amusing...

For parents of 6 year olds (give or take).... check out this blog post!

hee hee

Stole this from Leslie. Although I am making a huge effort to remain positive as a general matter, this quote does hold true from time to time. :)

Just for me

Today, I felt like the message at church was sent directly to me. Here was a key point:

Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:15‐18

Every time I think it can't get worse...

It does.

We have a new court date for June 16.  MOWA is requesting more information for *S*'s file. 

Losing confidence quickly.

:(

Case not heard today.  MOWA letter still not done.  (MOWA = Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs).   Supposedly we might be heard tomorrow.  But it probably won't matter as now the agency doesn't think our MOWA letter will be finished by then either.

Apparently, months and months after receiving our file for approval (they have had it since November), MOWA is requesting additional information.  They aren't satisfied with the file.  

I'm so done.

Success as a society depends on YOUR house - not the White House

I just love this quote:

"Whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house." 

~Barbara Bush~

Quick update.

We don't know too much, but that's nothing unusual (such is international adoption!)so take the following for what its worth.  It sounds like the agency reps did meet with a MOWA rep and the judge today.  The MOWA rep agreed to work on the approval letters for the waiting families without new court dates. It sounds like just a few families will get letters each day.  Since we don't know the total backlog of cases (there were at least 6 agencies involved...) this could still drag things out for awhile.  But there was one case approved today (no idea who or what agency) so hopefully that is good news.

The weird thing is that we appear to be the only family that WAS given a new court date.   May 21.  So one more week.   We are hoping that is GOOD news, considering we could wait far longer to just "randomly" have our letter done by MOWA.  I suppose there could be other issues with our file that need to be addressed, but everyone thinks we are down to just MOWA approval.   

So bizarre... 

And ... we wait some more.  

The Ride Continues...

It appears that I misunderstood. Our case was not scheduled to be heard/approved today. I believe what was supposed to happen was that the agency reps from several of the agencies that dealt with last Thursday's nonsense were scheduled to meet with the judge and a MOWA rep Wednesday afternoon. But the MOWA rep was not present.

I believe that this meeting has now been delayed until tomorrow.

I don't know what the potential outcomes might be. I have a few GUESSES. It may be that the judge is tired of MOWA's delays and just orders them to submit the approval letters as soon as they can (which could still take weeks ?), assuming the judge has that power (which he/she may not). Or the judge may agree to assign new court dates to all of the families would have not yet been approved - which might result in another couple months delay. :( Or it could be anywhere in between. We just don't know.

Trying to hang in there. I think some resolution is coming and fairly soon. I just wish I knew how quickly that resolution will lead to *S* being legally declared to be our daughter ...

Okay, I can't help it.

I think we might really pass court tomorrow.  After 6 months, I think this might be it.  And I'm a teeny bit excited. Seriously. The mom of 5.  At 27 years old.  hahahahaha.  

Could it be?

Rumor Has It..

That we have another court appointment Wednesday afternoon.  We shall see.

No.

MOWA did not submit a single letter of approval for today's court cases.  At least 6 agencies had cases to be heard and not one could be approved without the MOWA letters.  No new court dates were given.  If they are, they will be very far out.  *Hopefully*, MOWA will just start writing letters and the judge can approve the cases as this is done.  But MOWA does not want the judge to go this route, so we shall see what develops.

At the very lease, it looks like *S* won't be coming home any time soon. 

Frankly, the word "soon" has lost all meaning in this house.

Don't Hold Your Breath For Us Tomorrow... :(

We just got a message from our agency director. The last few days have been holidays in ET and the MOWA office has been in training.  So the odds of everything going "smoothly" tomorrow are less than normal.

And we don't seem to fare well, even when things are running normally.

:(  

Don't hold your breath tomorrow.  I'm not expecting good news any more... 

This really, really sucks.  It has to end some time right?

Tomorrow is World AIDS Orphans Day

In support of World AIDS Orphans Day on May 7, AHOPE for Children is urging everyone to take a 60-second moment of silence at 15:15 (3:15 pm., regardless of time zone), to reflect upon the more than 15 million children orphaned by AIDS around the world.

"If everyone takes just one minute out of their day to think about these children and how we might help them, we are taking a step in the right direction."