June 5, 2009

Well, our court date was yesterday and we have not heard anything yet. We got an email from AGCI saying that they have not gotten a hold of the staff in Ethiopia to get the news if we passed or not. Granted there is some crazy time differences between the 3 of us but now we have to wait the whole weekend! I spoke with a travel agency today and put some tickets on hold for the last weekend in June - going on a hope and prayer that everything goes smooth. We can always cancel them but the spots were filling up, so why not? Prayers for Monday !!!!

May 12, 2009

We have our court date! June 4! If we pass thru the first time, Zipporah needs to be able to get her birth certificate and passport and pass her TB test. If all goes well we could be traveling the end of June! She may not even have hair by then! Ama and Poppy will be in Seattle until the 30th so Reese will have to stay with Amy or Lindy until they return. I cannot believe how soon that seems. She could be here for the 4th of July - jet lag and all. Praise God!

May 7, 2009

We had our "next step" call with Julie today and she is quite sure that we will travel in July! Even if we end up needing a second court date we will still travel end of July or early August. Now we just pray that Zipporah passes her TB skin test. The courts in Ethiopia have put a hold on all abandoned childrens adoptions as part of an ongoing investigation to make sure everything is on the up and up. Thank you Lord that this does not effect us. Zipporah was relinquished by her mother and therefore her mom will have to show up in court. We should be hearing about our court date in the next few weeks! Now Lindy and Doug need a referral!

April 15, 2009

Our referral package is officially in the mail with a hefty check! Everything has been signed, notarized and filled out...now we just need Zipporah. But until then, we will gather a few things to send in a care package to her. Our caseworker is quite sure that we will travel this summer - Yeah! She said that as long as our documents pass thru the Ethiopian courts before August, we will go. Most people have been passing thru court on the first try too...so approximately 3 or so months? Ethiopia has just started a TB series that the kiddos have to have now too..but it can't be started until after the documents go thru court. Our next big prayer request is that Zipporah is negative on the first test - the skin test. Otherwise things could really get delayed.

April 10, 2009

Yesterday I spoke with Dr Jenista, an international adoption pediatrician. This is part of the requirement once we except a referral. She gave me a little more insight on our new addition. So, one more step ahead. I also received our referral package and printed off all of the pictures of Kenean - aka: Zipporah. On Monday we will have our transition call and hopefully get everything notorized that we need to. Happy Good Friday!! God is so.....good!

April 8, 2009

We have our referral !!!!! I had worked Monday night and when I woke up on Tuesday there was a message from our case worker, Julie. She was very vague and just stated that there was something that she wanted to talk to us about. I just knew it was "the call"! I called her back but because she is 3 hours behind us, she was at lunch. I waited a painful hour before I heard back from her. Julie said that she had a little girl for us to consider and that she was a little older than we had requested...she is 25 months. I didn't care...I knew this was the child God had for us. Her name in Ethiopia is Kenean. She was born February 19, 2007. Her mother has given her up because she is HIV positive and has no income. Her father passed away from an unknown disease the August before she was born. She is absolutely adorable! We have been given tons of pictures of her and even some with her birth mom. The other Ethiopian case worker from AGCI was in Ethiopia when Kenean came to Hannah's Hope on March 30. Our biggest prayer now is that we are able to travel to get her yet this summer. I am waiting to hear back from an international pediatrician about her medical records (they look good to me) and should get our referral package in the mail tomorrow.
I cannot believe that we waited almost a year for her referral! I cannot wait to kiss her little face.

He Reigns - Newsboys

This song makes me think of my girls. It is such a priviledge to teach them about our Savior! From Africa to Asia...to the USA!