Well, It’s official…….
We are parents.
We just got the call from our adoption coordinator (Sharon) at Children’s Hope and our case passed court today!
So now everyone can MEET OUR KIDS!
Court has been continued to the 29th. The government had meetings last week and didn’t have their stuff prepared. Sounds like everyone got continued. While we are certainly disappointed, we aren’t worried. All in God’s time.
Started Friday night. My mother-in-law’s co-workers threw her a surprise retirement party at Adam’s cousin’s house (she’s also a co-worker). She was so surprised. Some of her co-workers were planning a trip to Hilton Head for 2 weeks, and further surprised her with the opportunity to go with them - she would only be responsible for her meals. Good for her!
On Saturday, my friends and family threw Adam and I a non-shower in the loft space at The Dubliner. A lot of people came - I hope I got the chance to talk to all of them, it went so fast. We got lots of donations, and the means for more donations to the House of Hope and the orphanage. Friday morning right before work, some more pictures of the kids were e-mailed - we didn’t tell anyone. On our way home from the party on Friday, we stopped at Wal Mart and I picked up some picture frames and gift bags. When we got home, I put together pictures in the frames for those who had planned the party as a thank you, and a set for the grandparents. Then I put together a power point presentation with the new pictures and we brought it to the party.
Today, we watched a kick-a$$ performance of Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing the whole Beethoven’s Last Night CD - they have been promising this concert for over a decade, and we had great seats in the lower balcony of the Fox.
Now that we managed to wear ourselves out, hopefully we will sleep tonight even though our court date to approve the adoption in the Ethiopian courts is in the morning. If you happen to read this before then, please say some prayers for us that it is approved and doesn’t get continued. Thank you so much!
Joint Council for International Adoption (http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/we-are-the-truth-a-call-to-action/), which is a member based advocacy organization for adoption agencies and adopting parents has asked everyone touched by adoption to write a positive story in their blog on Thursday, April 15, 2010. This is in response to the negative press international adoption has been receiving lately.
Our adoption is hardly complete, so I won’t speak for us. I will however, talk about all the caring parents I have met through our agency, and about their adoptions. If you look to the left of this blog, there are links to other adoption blogs. Three of the four listed involve families with children already at home. The parents all made a conscious decision to adopt a child from another country, and while there were unique challenges, you can just see in the pictures that they are very happy families, with well adjusted children. I have learned so much by reading their blogs. If you haven’t checked them out, you should.
If you have been touched by someone who adopted, or who is adopted (i.e. child(ren) is already home) please either comment here, or post something about it as your status on Facebook or Twitter, or whatever social networking sites you use. We have to get the word out that for every negative story about adoption (international or domestic), there are millions of positive uplifting stores (international or domestic).
Thanks!
A friend and coworker just dropped this off at my house. I only took a few pages, but it’s much bigger and has a lot more room to expand.
Last but not least, someone has been reading my blogs. 
Debbie Monterrey, the morning host on KMOX radio, is currently in Ethiopia to bring her son home. Below is a link to an interview of her while in Ethiopia. She describes her trip to Awasa to visit the orphanage and interview with the birth relative. When we go, we will also be traveling to Awasa to the same orphanage. What she describes is much like what we will be going through.
I’m having a hard time getting the hyperlinks to work, so unfortunately you will have to copy and paste the links. Sorry.
http://www.kmox.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4541615
KMOX’s site also provided a very good map of Ethiopia. You can see where Awasa is relative to Addis Ababa
http://www.kmox.com/Heading-to-Ethiopia-/6666021
I know this is a very personal journey for her, but I hope she gives more interviews.
April 19th!!!