Food Crisis in Ethiopia

Please view these short videos, 1)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7428936.stm, 2)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7444998.stm, and 3)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7449722.stm on the food crisis in Ethiopia. After watching these, I realize I have absolutely no complaints. Please pray for the people of Ethiopia and help in any way you can; if nothing else, be thankful! Especially pray for the children that are suffering.

Difficult Week

This last week was disappointing. Three families from our agency didn't pass court. They had to cancel all their travel plans. Hopefully court will resume next week and they will still travel before the August closure. It looks like we won't even be thinking about traveling until winter. How will we wait? The child profile reports for our girls won't get to us until end of next week. So much waiting, waiting, waiting! One family from our group is in Ethiopia now and promised to take pictures of our girls. I'm afraid to be too happy because something bad always seems to follow the good things! Let's pray this next week will bring some good news.

Referral Pictures!

Our agency called this morning and announced we had two referrals! The older, Kistet, (means "something is happening or has happened") is thirteen months. She is such a happy-looking girl and her smile melted our hearts immediately. Such bright, sparkling eyes! The younger, Mesterwot, (means "mirror") is five months old with calm, watchful eyes and is quite plump! They both look so healthy--beyond our expectations. We're still waiting for their medical tests and all the rest of the information, like birthdays, when we can travel, etc., but for now, we just stare at their faces. Other families using our agency are traveling this month so we'll be getting many more pictures. We can't wait! We hope we can travel sooner than later. Hope we hear more soon!

James is 5!

Our oldest turned 5 several days ago. Hard to believe! He can't wait to go to school this fall.

Referral!

We got the e-mail today saying they have a referral for us. The bad thing is, that's all we know. We have to find out all the rest of the information when they send it from Ethiopia next week. Hopefully we will hear Monday! We were all jumping for joy (literally) this evening! We can't wait to see her!

Dossier on its way!

I just opened my e-mail and found a note from the adoption agency that our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia! Finally things are happening! We all yelled for joy and the boys both yelled, "I'm so excited to see our baby!" I heard James telling his little brother in the bath tub "The dossier is going and we'll have our baby soon". It's funny to hear a 4-year-old using the term "dossier". What a relief to have some positive news. I've had so much support from other adoptive families and I don't know what I would have done without them during the past several months. We've had some great friends' support, too. Thanks to all of you!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

Ugh! Our updated dossier paperwork got to our agency this morning, but one of the forms was not done correctly so I have to do another one and send it again overnight mail, if it's possible to have it done today. None of this would be happening if our first agency had done things right or had sent the paperwork from the beginning! The drama continues...

Not Waiting Quietly

It was still snowing a month ago, but I happened to look at the spring clothes that had just come out and I just couldn't resist buying some of them! They're so cute! Of course I have no idea what size to buy, but I got a range of them. I'm not exactly known to wait patiently...