Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Culture

I've been searching the internet for Amharic language courses, Ethiopian radio stations, videos, travelogues, etc. (Man, I love the World Wide Web!) Thought I'd share this music video I dig. The song is Dire Dawa by Adib Kadir. According to the info with the YouTube video, this is sung in the Harar language.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

What Happens Now?

1. Officially accept the referral. We did this on Wednesday March 11.
2. Send the adoption agency our Referral Acceptance Form, final fees payment, and a photo of our family that will be sent to the baby and shown to her every day. Done Monday March 16.
3. In Ethiopia, our dossier is prepared for court and registered with the Ethiopian government.
4. Our child's paperwork is gathered and registered with the government.
5. A court date is set, usually about 2-6 weeks after referral acceptance. If, after review, additional documents are needed, a new court date will be set to allow for time to get the documents in order. If everything is all set, the court will rule us her legal parents.
6. We get our travel dates. Travel usually occurs about a month after the favorable court ruling.

Meanwhile, back on the homefront, we need to paint, rearrange furniture, buy new furniture, decorate and set up her room, buy her clothes and some baby things we don't have left over from the boys, baby proof, etc., etc., etc. So many cute little baby girl clothes! I just can't wait to see her in them while I'm holding her in my arms!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

***** WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!! *****

She is a beautiful baby girl about 6 months old! I am in complete shock. I was not expecting it to happen so soon. I spent the rest of the day yesterday after the call alternating between grinning and crying.

The agency wasn't able to get ahold of me, so they called John and told him at work, and then he called me. It took me about 5 minutes to believe it was true. Then we sat on the phone together repeatedly hitting the refresh button on our computers waiting for the email with all of her information and that long awaited picture. The first thing I thought when I saw her was, "Oh my God, she's beautiful!" and the second was, "Can I be instantly biased?" :) But my mom thinks she's beautiful, too, so it must be true. LOL

That is one of the most amazing parts of this: my mom was suppose to visit last October, but it had to be postponed, so she's visiting now. I am so, so happy that she got to be here when we got the news.

I wish I could give you all more details and post her picture, but the Ethiopian government prohibits any public posting of a child's image or information until she is legally adopted. If all goes well, the courts should rule us her legal parents in about 2 months. About a month after that we will travel to Ethiopia to meet our daughter and bring her home!

We could not be more excited!