Court in the Chi

Today the fam headed to the Daley Center for our refinalization appearance. As we had never met the girls before the adoption was finalized in Ethiopia, they came to the United States on a visa that required refinalization here for citizenship and such. We had a really wonderful attorney who explained everything as we went, and was super prepared and organized. We got to the waiting area with about 15 minutes to spare. First, we went to the Sheriff's Department so the girls could be served with the court papers. Then we headed back up to the play room to wait for the court calls to begin. Jim, the 4 kids and I were called fairly quickly and asked to approach the bench. I'm pretty sure the Q & A in there was all of three minutes and the judge granted the interim order. We'll get a final order in February, but we do not appear for that. In the meantime, our lawyer will also enter a motion to adjust Alexa's age by one year, making her 5 on Christmas!

Some themes totally stood out today:

• People can be so super nice, and we sometimes don't expect that. From the security at the Daley center both on the way in and out, to the lawyer and "courtroom people", to the random passers-by that complimented our family and were greeted with Lex and Liana blowing kisses and waving, we came in contact with a lot of nice people. Heck, our lawyer even let Liana drag her wheeled "work bag" all over the Daley Center today as we completed our steps. These were people that were clearly busy, and just took time for a smile or kind words. Love that!
  



• We're going to end up at McDonald's for "celebrations" until the end of time.




• We have really awesome kids. The little girls seem so very acclimated, yet are still in awe and appreciative of new things like the city skyline with "castles", a teddy bear from Grandma and the snow. Mark is so thoughtful and kind, and, even when the judge asked him how he does with all those sisters, he sincerely said he likes it. Tess, and the others for that matter, keeps us laughing; she's really growing up a lot in the big sis role. They look out for each other in crowded playrooms, like the one today, and, sure, they tattle and wrestle like its going out of style, but you can see their goodness and love for each other and us.




• Sometimes, when people are parents, they have to do crazy things like climb to the 3rd row of the minivan on the Dan Ryan to get the middle girl a pull up and help her put it on while seat belted because you've been in the car waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long and she just can't wait...hypothetically. Sure beats pee pants in court :)!
  
  

Sadly, the weather was on the extra cruddy side, so we didn't make any other stops in the city, but I totally look forward to sharing that with Alexa and Liana. We're so excited for the time together over winter break and the first Christmas with our girls at home!

Six months already?!

Here's the whole crew @ Kiddieland this summer!

It is hard to believe that the girls joined our family 6 months ago, yet it seems like they've always been here. On Wednesday, we'll go to court at the Daley Center in Chicago to initiate United States re-adoption. This is where official name changes take place, and in a month, the final decree will be issued and the girls will be U.S. Citizens. Due to the type of their visa, they arrived here as permanent residents. Alexa also celebrates her first birthday with us this week (#5!); her big brother and sister are making sure she understands the birthday concept and that Alexa and Liana are ready for Christmas!! Below is what they had to say about our bigger family:

This is Mark. I am Alexa, Liana, and Tessa's brother. I'm 7, and I am in second grade. (My mom is typing as I talk, but these are all our words.) Our sisters have been here for half a year today. Alexa really likes Princess and the Frog, and we are going to see it on Tuesday. Her birthday is on Christmas. Liana likes Cinderella and likes to play with me. They share a room with Tessa. Liana is in a bunk bed with Tessa. Alexa has her own bed. I like Alexa and Liana in our family because they are funny. Alexa and Liana like Star Wars like me. Now that we have 4 kids, it is more work for Mommy and Daddy and I help out a lot. I help them get their clothes on and brush their teeth.

This is Tessa. I am the big sister, and I am 5 1/2. Alexa and Liana are so cute. I love them so much. Happy birthday, Alexa, and I can't wait until Christmas. Alexa and Liana rock. One time I got toothpaste in Alexa's hair, and I put water in it to clean it. I like to fix Alexa's hair. Alexa and Liana are going to love their presents we will give them for Christmas. Alexa and Liana were so funny when they first came here and they are still funny.

Four months and counting!

I've noticed a common theme in many adoption blogs- it seems sometimes the kids come home, and after swearing to not be one of "those bloggers," some time passes between posts. Sometimes lots of time...sometimes three months...sometimes even MORE time than between posts while you were waiting for the children in the first place! Now there's also the occasional promises of "I'm back and I'm going to update my pants off!" I, hypothetically, am guilty of allll the above. Cripes, you haven't even seen our trip pictures yet!!

You can see this, though:

This picture is from the tail end of August, and gives just a little glimpse into their fun personalities. It seems as if Alexa and Liana have been a part of our family for longer than we waited for them, which is faaaaar from the case. Everyone asks if they get along well with Mark and Tessa, and our answer is that they really are just like siblings. That means there is lots of fun and the occasional challenge :). Both girls continue to be pretty healthy and their English is EXPLODING! Alexa appears to be at least a year older than her stated age, according to our dentist (Shout out to DeLacey Dental!). Her six year molars are on their way in and she has now lost two teeth. (I thought I was going to have to crazy glue them back in her mouth until Tessa lost her first tooth, but she took it like a champ.) She also started preschool this week at the Brokaw Early Learning Center, which is part of our public school district. Liana will be screened for preschool in April when she turns 3ish. The girls are pretty adventurous and are at swim lessons with their older brother and sister as I type. Time for me to go check 'em out!

More later....I promise :).

Some long overdue photos...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Check out the scrapbook of our first month home (which ended three weeks ago-whoops!). It tells such a small part of what this experience has meant to us and the joy (and occasional challenges :) ) of adding to our family. The music is not Ethiopian, for any of you cultural gurus out there, but it is lively...and iTunes and Smilebox don't always get along so well! Thanks for all of your encouragement and support in getting to this point!

"So, what did you do there all week?"

I need to start writing before I start forgetting...that's for sure! Here's a super brief outline of what our week+ of travel looked like:

Thursday: We had to fly to D.C. a day early to ensure we made our connecting flight on Ethiopian Airlines on Friday. Since neither Jim nor I have been to D.C. before, we opted for an early flight so we could spend the afternoon walking around a bit and relaxing before the journey ahead. Walking around a bit quickly translated to miles and miles, and we really had a nice, distraction free time.

Friday: We boarded the flight for Ethiopia in the morning and spent the.whole.day. on the plane. As in they fed us three full meals and snacks while we were on the flight.

Saturday: We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the morning, and were picked up, along with 5 other families on our flight, by our driver, Mulat, and taken to Horizon House. After arriving, we were shown to our rooms and Jim and I headed down the block (with a few other families and a guard) to the "big kid house" to meet Alexa Aster and Liana Burtu for the first time. We saw them a couple of times that day for a couple of hours each time.

Sunday: We, along with one other couple and our driver, Solomon, left Horizon House at 6 a.m. for the Sidama region to meet our children's birth families. We had a 4ish hour drive on pavement to the city of Awassa followed by a 2+ hour drive off-road to Arbegona to meet our children's relatives. We then had another 45 minutes into the highlands to so Irena and Matt, another couple in our group, could meet their son's family. We ended up back in Awassa around 5:45 p.m., and after a wonderful dinner, got some sleep!

Monday: We departed the Lewi (our hotel) at 6 a.m. to head back to Addis. We had lunch and loaded up all of the children on a bus to the embassy. During that visit, our children received their visas for travel back to the U.S. In the evening, the Wide Horizon's staff took our whole travel group to a wonderful restaurant for traditional food and dancing.

Tuesday: This day was play day nearly all day. We spent the bulk of the children's "awake" hours with them at the big kid house! During their nap, we went to the business center at the Sheraton hotel to send a half-time e-mail to our fam.

Wednesday: Jim wasn't feeling so good, so he rested in the morning; after a quick visit with the girls, I joined some other members of our group on an outing to the markets. After nap time, we had the girls brought to the guest house so we could play with them outside of the big kid house setting for a couple of hours and really enhance the transition.

Thursday: Jim rallied, and we both joined fellow travelers on another outing to the market. After the girls' nap, we had them join us at the guest house to play AND spend the night!

Friday: We played with our girls and the children joining the other families at the guest house and took part in a coffee ceremony. At that time, we also received all of our children's official paperwork and passports for travel. After dinner, we boarded the bus to Bole and boarded that plane once again.

Saturday: We landed at Dulles on time and had some Wendy's at 9 a.m.! Our flight to Chicago was delayed a couple of times and we finally landed at O'Hare around 3 in the afternoon!

Hopefully that'll give you some context so that my stories about days or events make a little more sense as I continue to write...well, as much as can be expected, anyway! We're so glad our girls have joined our family and look forward to sharing lots more!

A week already?!?!

We're home and we're doing really well! Tomorrow will mark one week since we arrived at home. (Like the awesome banner Uncle Rick ordered for us?!) Our adjustment as a family has really gone smooth. The four Melton kids interact pretty well; I'm anticipating more challenges once they all speak the same language ;) Tessa is really enjoying the big sister role; she taught Alexa the ropes of dress up and pretty much is two inches away from Liana, the little one, at any given time. Mark is a patient, helpful big brother who enjoys running all around the house with Alexa and trying to learn new words from them both. Alexa and Liana are learning the names we've added, and like us, use Alexa/Aster and Liana/Burtu pretty interchangeably. They're sleeping relatively well and the time change didn't impact us quite as severely as we anticipated; 5 a.m. is a little on the early end for this house so we're working on that.

Don't get me wrong, there are challenges, and when they're having conversations and sharing laughs in their native language before bed, I really wish I knew what they were saying. Admittedly, I'm a little sad that they're going to lose that in a pretty short time and replace it with "Pop it, lock it, polka dot it". I'm so glad that they have each other and that we have them.

My plan is to outline our week in Ethiopia and elaborate on some parts of that amidst sharing our summer family fun. We had a good trip and met some really wonderful people; we were also glad to experience the country of Ethiopia itself. We sure look forward to sharing that with you, too!

The deets

So my last two postings were a little, um, brief, so I figured I'd post some more about how this week unfolded! I was really optimistic that we'd pass court soon, but knew that it could still easily be a month. Tuesday morning, I was standing at the copier in the school office trying to scan in an order for the copy center in the midst of 8th grade Recognition Night practice. My phone buzzed and the first things I noticed were a missed IM and missed call from Rachel, who I was currently helping; then I popped over to my e-mail, which is what made my phone buzz to begin with, and saw GOOD NEWS FROM ETHIOPIA e-mail. Needless to say, I was totally surprised! I headed into Rachel's office, told her and tried to call Jim; I managed to knock the phone off the desk a couple of times, too :) (It also happened to be Jim's birthday on Tuesday.) I made a couple of other phone calls and tried to return to productivity, which consisted of more 8th grade activities. I was thinking we'd travel the 19th or the 26th. Later that afternoon, I got a "Congratulations!" e-mail from another parent who is adopting; she had already seen the weekly update from our agency that showed groups travelling the 12th and the 19th; the way the numbers fell, it was apparent that the three families picking up sibling pairs were all slated to do so on the 12th- WOW!!! We got confirmation of that from our agency later that afternoon, and were able to confirm our correct visa status with the National Visa Center to ensure we would be able to travel. A quick call to our travel agent followed and the plans...real, actual, for sure plans...were underway!

ONE WEEK!!

Jim and I leave for Washington, D.C. one week from tomorrow! We head on to Ethiopia on Friday morning and will be home right in time for Fathers' Day!

WE. PASSED. COURT.

We may be travelling next week!!! Oh, boy! More later when we're certain...

Relief...and tasty food!

Jim and I have been waiting for our I600A extension, which is essentially our immigration approval to adopt children from the United States government. It is good for 18 months at a time, and we recently resubmitted ours as that time had come. While we logically knew (hoped) that the extension would be a formality as nothing had changed about our situation since our initial approval, it sure was a relief to find it in our mailbox this weekend. See, we could pass court at really any time (although it will probably be a bit longer) and in order to issue our embassy appointment and travel dates, the National Visa Center needs to have a current approval on file...and they do!!!

Sunday we headed up to Evanston to dine at Addis Abeba with another couple, Stephanie and Tom, who are adopting an Ethiopian baby from our same agency. Our agency is on the east coast, and it is not uncommon for families who live in that area to gather. It was fun to meet people in person here in Illinois where there aren't quite as many Wide Horizons families...or at least ones that we know just yet. The food was fabulous and we really enjoyed the company. It is amazing that we four sat dining here while having daughters all the way in Ethiopia who have shared a roof. Hopefully we'll all be getting news of successful court dates soon!

Hanson...Party of 6!

This lovely photo, taken on Kim's iPhone, of course, depicts her (on the left) and me (on the right) at the close of our final full day of special education meetings together for the school year because a) there's only 3 weeks of school left and b) Kim and her husband, Steve, leave for Ethiopia TOMORROW to pick up Luke and Ava to join their family. As you can see, Kim's enjoying some celebratory ice cream as well! (Note: Before anyone comments on hair and make-up, know it was a rainy, windy day. ) This picture of Kim, our technology devices and I will remain one of the big symbols of this adoption process for both of us, I'm guessing.

We've been on this adoption journey together for what seems like forever, and I am amazed that tomorrow Kim and Steve will board the plane. I am excited that there are 4 children in Ethiopia that, between our two families, will live only minutes away from each other here in Illinois. And I am so thankful for Kim's friendship through this process. We have had overwhelming support from so very many people, as have they; there is such great value in sharing this experience and all the excitement, anticipation, anxiety and despair it can bring with another family in process, too. We're all really blessed! If you want to see the Hanson clan, head over to http://hanson6.blogspot.com/! I can't wait to see them all together.

Congratulations, Kim, Steve, Cady and Jake! You continue to be in our prayers; we're sad we won't be there to send you off and can't wait to see you when you return.

In other news...

• After a crazy day of running Mark and Tessa around, I'm also thinking Kim was pretty smart to add to the fam after her oldest, Cady, got a drivers license.
• Our passports came back from the Ethiopian Embassy today, so Jim and I have our visas!
• A bunch of people waiting ahead of us passed court this week, some earlier than expected! Talk about panic and excitement all at once on this end :) Now I really have to get those shots.....

Post office action

Through the adoption process, I sure have learned a lot and had a variety of new experiences. Back in the day, for example, I used to go to the post office to mail a letter or buy some stamps. Yesterday, I mailed one letter (for 44 cents!), sent photo albums for Alexa A and Liana B to our agency in Massachusetts that will ultimately end up in Ethiopia, and sent a copy of our updated home study to our case worker at our agency...the latter two with delivery confirmation, of course! Then (and here comes the scary part) I sent our ACTUAL PASSPORTS that we NEED to travel in a little old Express Mail envelope to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C., along with our visa applications. (Yep, I did find my passport...in a laundry basket.) I had to enclose a return Express Mail envelope so the fine people at the Embassy could send them back, once stamped with multiple entry two year visas for Ethiopia.

What's that make me think? First of all, it amazes me that an envelope I am holding in my hand at 5 p.m. on a Monday in Illinois will be on someone's desk in D.C. before noon on Tuesday. Second, I can really build up a ginormous bill at the post office in a hurry. Finally, and most importantly, I am struck by how many people have helped us along through this process, right down to the lady at the post office. Amazing!

Names!

Wow! (I feel like I say that a ton lately!) We first found out about the girls 5 weeks ago today and have lots to do before that travel call comes. Since our blog is public, we're going to refer to their Ethiopian names as A and B until we pass court. Sure that may seem a little generics, but they actually are their first initials! Their Ethiopian names are simple and easy to pronounce, and we'll be using them as part of their legal name. We decided to add a first name to each of their names, as well. In Ethiopia, we'll have someone explain this in their native language and call them by both names or whichever they prefer and are most comfortable, knowing this may change over time.

The name discussion is always an interesting one in the Melton house, as Jim and I don't always have the exact same (in the same solar system) opinion. And names for 2 girls?? Forget about it. Tessa, in her almost age 5 wisdom, suggested Alexa and Liana. These names just happen to be the main characters in a recent animated Barbie movie, so we chuckled a little and moved back to our discussion/civilized debate. We kept coming back to those names, and one evening, as Jim was insulating and drywalling the rest of the garage, we decided those names were perfect. Jim liked that they were Barbie names and his mom's name is Barb :) I looked up the name meanings, and Alexa means "defender"; I looked up Liana and found the meaning, "God has spoken"- yikes! Aside from the great message of Barbie and friends and those meanings (Alexa A would mean "star defender"...soccer player, if you ask me!), we had some additional connections. Jim's grandma was Lee, and his mom, sister and I (and probably one third of females worldwide) all have the middle name Ann. The name Alexa and versions of such symbolize a family, particularly a mom and a daughter, that have shown strength and perseverance through very dark times in a way that has really inspired me. I know our girls have traveled a very tough road to get to us, and we want to honor their history as well as the joy of them being part of our family; I think these names will do both quite well!

In other adoption news, we finished the photo albums to send to the girls! We're still awaiting our updated USCIS (immigration) clearance, as our home study was updated to reflect the new year. Our passports and Visa applications will get sent to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. this week, and the dreaded travel immunizations will get scheduled. I'm still doing a little research on those to determine which ones we'll need. While we wouldn't need many for Addis Ababa, our birth family visit will take us to a more remote, rural setting. I still feel like the time is passing quickly, and hope to see some of the families ahead of us get travel news this week; we're still anticipating summer travel.

Alexa A and Liana B, we can't wait to meet you!

Congratulations and compassion

So Trivial Thursday might turn into Frivolous Friday...we shall see :)

What I do know is this...Kim, Steve, Cady and Jake officially have two more members in their family! I was so excited to hear that they passed court and are now waiting to solidify their travel date. Visit them at http://hanson6@blogspot.com to read about their adventures. While we've corresponded with some new families via the internet, Kim and her family actually live in the neighboring town and we have known each other since before these specific journeys to Ethiopia "officially" began. I feel really blessed to be able to share this with her, whether it is managing the wait and the challenges, celebrating the milestones such as this or contemplating an Old Navy mix-and-match travel ensemble.

Tonight I showed the Hanson kids picture to Mark and Tessa and they asked to see their sisters again. We prayed for them and I asked them if there was anything that they wished their sisters knew about them. Tessa very seriously said that she wanted her sisters to know that she would be nice to them. She later added that she wanted them to know she would be the best sister ever. Mark, who is generally pretty insightful, wanted them to know that he did not, in fact, have a real light saber so they did not need to be scared about coming to our home :) He also wanted them to know that there are not monsters here, and that we would have enough food for them. Jim and I are so grateful for the children and the compassion they have for others and their eagerness to welcome sisters into our family!

NOTE: I'm writing down all the nice things they say now so I can recite them when the turf wars start over Barbie dolls and action figures!

Makin' some lists...

I'm not really sure where to start! The time really seems to be passing quickly as we prepare to travel to Ethiopia, have a family of six and navigate all that the last quarter of the school year entails for our children, Mark and Tessa, and for me as a school administrator. We received our referral three weeks ago today, and accepted a little over two weeks ago. Relatively recently we received the first travel preparation packet from our agency. WOW! It is very detailed and easy to understand, and it guides us through the next steps we need to take while waiting to pass court. Among those steps are travel immunizations, getting Ethiopian visas (not the credit card...the passport stamp ;) ) and making a photo album to send to our girls. Tonight I tracked down the information for the Kendall County Health Department Travel Clinic, and plan to check in with the family doc tomorrow to figure out the course of action with those. We really should get them all in the next two weeks. Jim has done some third world travelling more recently than I, so he may be off the hook for some of them that I will have to get.

I also completed the visa applications tonight, with the exception of a couple lines that I need to verify with our case manager. My efforts were also slightly thwarted when, upon going to the "Important Papers" file, I found Jim's passport, a few other legit important papers....and birth/adoption certificates for Webkinz, Cabbage Patch kids and Build-A-Bears galore, but NOT my passport. I just renewed it recently, so here's hoping I find it in my office tomorrow!

We also have to send a small photo album introducing ourselves to the girls. I've gone into our digital photos, and created a folder for which ones may be good to include. Next Jim will upload the Easter photos so I can add a new family photo as well. Then we'll be able to print, label and send the photographs to our agency in Massachusetts so that they can ship them to Ethiopia. We'll also include the pictures of the girls themselves, as the children enjoy seeing pictures of themselves, but don't typically have the opportunity to do so. We'll also start work on a photo album and a letter to present to the birth family that we'll bring to Ethiopia when we travel.

Then there's those lists that don't always make the travel packet... I might start a weekly post called Trivial Thursdays (A.K.A. Things that are important to me because they are a little more in my control than the rest of this process, but not really in my control and might seem silly compared to the depth and importance of some of this adoption "stuff", but, hey, I'm thinking about 'em anyway so might as well share...) where I dispense my ramblings on room decorations, what to wear in Ethiopia, how to successfully execute Mark and Tessa birthday parties before we travel, names to add to their Ethiopian names and the like. We'll see how tomorrow goes!! Until then, please keep our friends, the Hanson family, in your thoughts this evening, as their court date for their adoption will take place tonight while we are all sleeping. Well, all of us but the Hanson fam, probably!

Yikes! Now what?

Now that our agency has processed our acceptance paperwork, it will make its way through Ethiopian government offices and the court system. Once we pass court, we will be assigned an embassy appointment and travel dates. We do not attend court, but we do go to the embassy to get the girls' visas. The process from referral to travel typically takes two to five months...typically... There is a possibility of us traveling as early as June, but any point over the summer is realistic. Jim and I will go for a week, and Mark and Tessa will stay here. Tessa firmly reminded me that I would need to get them a babysitter if Daddy and I were going to Africa for a week.

When we do go to Ethiopia, we will go to the embassy and also to a birth family visit, in all likelihood. The birth family visit will take us out of Addis Ababa, the capital city, south into the Sidama region. This is said to be a phenomenal experience, and I am already researching motion sickness medication to ensure I make it :) While in Addis Ababa, we'll stay at the guest house adjacent to Horizon House, our agency's care center. The girls will have been moved to Horizon House from a private regional orphanage when we passed court. Typically, there is a two to three week window between passing court and travel. While we wait for travel, we have lots to keep us occupied from immunizations to preparing rooms to updating paperwork to creating photo albums to a whole bunch of other things that make me wonder what we've been doing during this wait!! And, of course, getting a babysitter for Mark and Tessa.

More Melton GIRLS!!!

We are so excited to have accepted a referral for two girls (age 3 1/2 and age 2)! Here's how the call went down:

So the Tuesday of Spring Break (March 24), the kids and I started out our day by taking Mark to the dentist, a quick Jamba Juice "way to be good at the dentist, buddy" post-appointment briber and a venture into Super Target for a birthday gift. We got home and had a little time to hang out with Jim and play before Tessa's ballet class. At some point, Jim ended up on his cell phone with his sister and Mark and Tessa were playing together. So our home phone starts ringing, and I, the adoption phone stalker of well over a year, walked up the stairs, away from the ringing phone, without a second thought. You see, Jim adjusted our home phone plan because we don't use it terribly often, and we no longer have caller ID. I figured it was Johnny Refinance or the Fraternal Order of Somebody and really never thought that would be "it". Didn't even enter my mind...

So I happen to hear Jim say, "Hi, Erica." Now I do have Erica friends, but when I heard this I practically slid down the railing to get back downstairs to see if it was "Erica- Wide Horizons Case Manager" and it WAS her. Jim is kind of shaking his head, and I'm all in his face asking if it is "Erica Erica" and if it is kids. The head shaking continues and he informs her that his wife is two inches from his face and will continue to interrupt and ask questions every time either one of them makes a sound, so he is going to give her the phone. Who me??? Of course, me! So I say hello to Erica and she tells me to get a piece of paper and a pencil because she has good news. I've read that line in a jillion other people's referral blog posts and was stunned that it was now our turn to spaz out in an attempt to locate one piece of stinkin' paper in this whole house....but we found it, she told us about our new daughters and let us know that we should check our e-mail as soon as we got off the phone.

We are so fortunate to have received several pictures of them, but are not able to post those pictures here until we pass court. We also received medical reports and social histories which we sent on to our doctor. After our phone conference with him on Monday morning, we accepted the referral formally and told Mark and Tessa about their new sisters!!

Thanks so much to those of you that have supported us during this portion of the wait!! We are so excited to share this good news!!

Just thinkin'....

So it is 5:33 p.m. in Oswego-land, which means it is 6:33 on the East Coast AND it is Monday AND we haven't received the weekly update yet which prompts that weekly flurry of questions in my "wow, this could actually happen soon, but I don't want to be excited 'cause it could still be a while, but it could be soon" head....

Is someone getting a referral right NOW and that's why they haven't sent it yet? Are they looking up someone's phone number right now to give the good news? Are they looking up MY phone number? Is MY phone ringing at home and Jim is not answering because he is engrossed in a game of "Barbie v. the Clone Troopers"?? Are any of my blog friends getting their referrals right now? Has there been a dramatic increase in the number of posts on the Yahoo! board??

And then, just like that, I click on the other window, check my e-mail and there it is- the update! More families did pass court, which was not expected this week and is totally awesome, and there have still been no referrals for February, which is in the normal range but could also mean some are bound to happen soon.

Keeping current

On Friday afternoon, our social worker, Wendy, came over to update our licensing (which happens every 6 months) and gather some information to finalize our home study revision (which has to be done every year while in process). The licensing update was pretty quick; she checks our hot water temp, tests the smoke alarms, checks for carbon monoxide detectors and ensures all things hazardous are locked up.

For the home study part, she had already collected the documents prior to the visit, but now that our kids are older she had to talk to them about the adoption and include that in our report. Tessa went first and said she was excited to get new brothers or sisters. She reminded Wendy (multiple times) that she is 4 1/2. Wendy asked how she would feel if babies came, and Tessa told her, "Well, they would be, like, 1 (year old) and I am 4 1/2. Glad we got that squared away... Wendy moved on to Mark, and he said, "We just keep waiting and waiting and waiting." She asked him how he thought he could help when the babies or kids arrived, and he said that he would write down some words and tell them how to read the words. What a great kid! Wendy suggested that Mark help us make some flashcards for the children to help them communicate with us while they learn English; regardless of their ages, I thought this was a great way for Mark and Tessa to get involved in the preparation and bond with their siblings when they arrive at home. Mark was brainstorming important words and Tessa immediately suggested "chocolate"; that girl is always thinking. We'll let you know how that project goes!

I've also added a bunch of blogs written by families who are also adopting or have already adopted from Ethiopia to the right of this page. Some are people using our agency, some we found through other blogs and we are even fortunate to have one other family who we know "in real life"; it has been so great to have them with us in this process (Insert shout-out to the Hanson family here...). I enjoy reading all of their stories and seeing how their families have evolved. Thanks to all of them for sharing that!

The "Promised in November" Holiday Photo

Here's Mark (sans front teeth) and Tess (w/ her ever-so-fashionable hair bow) from Christmas 2008... They are really great kids! Last night at bedtime, Mark prayed that the babies (or "babies who are already kids" as he and Tess call them due to our open age request from infant to 5) would come during the night or the next night or SOON! He also referred to them as his brothers.....wishful thinking or psychic powers??? Leaving our request open to either gender, and given our age range, there are so many possibilities when the call comes!

Sooooooooooooo...

It seems that little three-post-sprint I went on in November tired me considerably, because I haven't exactly been on top of posting regularly since then...mmmm, or ever. Don't get me wrong, I do visit my blog often to view my "What's the current temp in Addis?" icon so I can share with everyone around me how warm it is there and how cold it is here (Right, Kim!?). I do feel bad, however, that another waiting parent visited my blog and had to comment on a November post 'cause that's all there was. On the adoption front, there are many families traveling to pick up their children in the current and upcoming weeks as well as many who just returned. Congratulations to all of them! We continue to make sure all of our paperwork is updated and in order for when we get "the call".

...and here's to a busy February of posting :)