Spring Break

For this years spring break Mboy and I were trying to decide what we should do. I really wanted to do something fun as kind of a last shabang, since I am sure our kids worlds will be rocked as soon as we come home with baby E. I really wanted to go on a cruise so I found one that would work (for sheap) but Mboy decided he couldn't take the time off work since he already had a full schedule booked and he would already be taking 2 weeks off for our trip to ET. As time got closer to the kids break we still hadn't planned anything so I told Mboy to book the kids and I a room at a B&B in San Diego with a trade group that he is a part of. So off we went. Mboy still had to work so he came up on Wednesday after work and then stayed the night with us on Thursday. The first part if the trip the kids and I went to the beach (it was sooooo cold), collected shells, swam in the hot tub and went thrift store shopping. Jaida kept saying "this is the best day ever" ( on the day we went to the beach, swam in the hot tub, had a nap and ate donuts... I had to agree) We decided we would take the kids to Sea world on the last day since we had never been. We loved it! So much less stress than Disneyland and my kids had never seen anything like it. Jboy LOVED the killer whales... he calls them "killer." It was such a fun get away, we will definitely be doing it again.

You may have noticed in the pictures something a little special around my waist...That's right, it's a fanny pack. I'm bringing em back, they are so practical:) I don't know why the fad ever left.

Happy Birthday My Boy!

April, 3rd was Jboys 4th Birthday. We woke up, made German Pancakes (J's choice of course) then watched the morning session of General Conference. We then headed to my mum and dad's for the rest of the day. We told Jboy that he had to wait until my little Bro Cman got there before he could open his presents. (thinking Cman was 30 minutes away)3 hours later and about 5000 askings if we can open presents yet, Cman arrived. We ate hamburgers and homemade french fries, then finally opened presents and ate a most excellent cake. Jboy said he wanted a dinosaur, helicopter, airplane and car cake, with his name on it... sooo we made it happen. He was so worried Cman was going to eat all of his cake so he kept warning him if he did that his daddy was going ot beat him up. Luckily that didn't need to happen. Jboy loved all of his presents and played the rest of the night with all of them. We are sooooo lucky to have this little man in our lives, he is the sweetest, funniest most precious boy.

COURT DATE!! and a small miracle

And finally we have a court date! So here is the story, a few weeks ago we were pretty frustrated and we were questioning whether our adoption was going to go through, if it was meant to be, why it was taking so long, etc...as we were going to bed that night, I got the scriptures out to read a page or two (we always try to read a page/chapter each night) and I decided I would just flip them open and read whichever page it opened to....Well we "happened" to turn to Ephesians chapter 1, and verse 5 was the first verse on the page:
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ..." so Heavenly Father let us know he was with us and that we should just trust in him. That in itself was really cool but there is more. Last week several other families received court dates even though they had received their referrals weeks after us, so we were kinda in a bad place again, so that night we did our usual routine and I decided to just flip the book open and read again, this time our answer came from the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 24 the top of the page was half way through verse 13 "...lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders that you cannot feel them upon your backs...that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter and that you may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions...And it came to pass that so great was the their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again saying: Be of good comfort for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage."
So literally on the morrow we were "delivered", wow, we certainly had felt God lift us up and ease our burdens at times but we were amazed at this small miracle and message that God had sent us. It's amazing how He can speak to us through the scriptures! Our friend April who is also adopting from Ethiopia had posted a prayer request on our behalf on the adoption listserv that same day! A coincidence? nope, this was God's hand in our lives. So thanks to the faith of all our supporters we finally have our date!

We got the call last friday letting us know that we were assigned a court date of May 19th!! We are excited but a little bummed that it is a bit later than we hoped for. So we are making travel plans to go meet "E"!! We know its gonna be a rollercoaster of emotion. The joy to meet her, the sorrow to realize her loss, the excitement to visit Ethiopia and then seeing the reality of true poverty....we are super pumped though.
We are trying to arrange to do some dentistry while we are there and just figuring out the logistics of it. I know of another dentist that has adopted from Ethiopia that actually arranged a huge dental mission last year so I am in touch with him to figure out what is feasible to do while I am there. He said it was an awesome opportunity and that they people served were so grateful. There is an awful amount of need there, so I am expecting the dental work to be different.
Anyway, thats the latest, we will be updating once our travel plans are set any may be asking for any donations to take the orphanage.

Our girl is 10 months

Happy 10 months baby girl. We are so sad to not have you in our arms for this day but know you are being well taken care of at HH. We love you SOOOOOOOOO much. We are pretty sure you are crawling by now but please don't start walking, we don't want to miss it...
We got 2 new pictures of baby E today from a family that is there picking up their baby girl, this always makes my day. Her hair is getting so long and she is looking so much older.
We finally received a court date but I am making M do that post :)

Tough Times

OK so since Chantel is making me post this here it goes:
We have been working on our adoption for about 15 months now. As you all know it has taken a considerable amount of time, energy and money to get everything in order. Our prayers were answered Jan 24th when we saw our beautiful daughter's face and were able to read about her and her family story. We are heartbroken for her birth family but so unbelievably excited to join her to our family. Although we are yet to hold her, talk to her, comfort her we absolutely love her.
When we accepted the referral of baby "E" on Jan 24th our case was submitted to the Ethiopian court system to be assigned a court date. This typically was taking a week or two and the court date would be assigned 4-8 weeks from there. The purpose of the court date is basically for the judge to verify that the child is indeed an orphan, the care of the child has been relinquished, the information is accurate, etc., and that we are suitable parents. Well one item in this checklist is a letter from MOWA (ministry of women's affairs) saying that they reviewed the documentation and approve of the adoption. Up until now MOWA has been issuing 40-50 letters per day, but they are planning on reducing this to 5 a day. What this means is that adoptions, including ours will be delayed months and even years. This of course is heartbreaking for us. Not just because we want to bring our daughter home but we feel so much sorrow for the poor kids that will sit in orphanages that much longer. With no Mom, no Dad. These kids will have to learn to cope on their own, fight for attention, fight just to be held or fed. It is hard for us to watch E grow up just in the last month from the pictures we see. These orphans need families. To know that "E" is there waiting and we are here waiting, missing all of her milestones. We are so happy that she at Hannah's Hope and being well cared for, but she still needs us and we so need her. The orphanages are already crunched for space. Its just frustrating to know that there is such a need, and there are so many willing and waiting families. I understand the process, its a process in place to protect the children from fraudulent and unethical agencies. But there has to be another way.


Well is there is something you can do, the Joint Council on International Children's Services has a petition here: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html
here is the text:



Last week the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children's, and Youth Affairs announced their intention to reduce intercountry adoptions by 90% beginning March 10, 2011.

The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues;

1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and;

2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option.

The Ministry’s plan to reduce intercountry adoption by 90% is a tragic, unnecessary and a disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the intercountry adoption process.

We support the Ministry’s goal of ensuring ethical adoptions that serve the best interest of children and serve all vulnerable children & families.

We respectfully urge the Ministry to consider the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations.

Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers, further ensure ethical adoptions and expand services to more families and children.

We, respectfully urge the Ministry of Women’s, Children's and Youth Affairs to reconsider its plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families.

My Sweet JGirl

We have some bad news to post about our adoption involving a change with one of the Government agencies there, but I don't have the heart to make that post tonight. I have cried enough today so I'm making M do it when he gets back from soccer.
I love my kids, they are so stinkin cute. Today as we were driving home from dance Jgirl asked if we can send the kids in Ethiopia some food since they don't have very much. I told her it is hard to send food because it goes bad before it gets there. I told her it is better if you can send clothes and shoes and toothbrushes and toothpaste instead since they won't go bad and the kids need these things too. I also said it is better to send money to help feed the kids rather than actual food, this way they can buy food there. She immediately offered her piggy bank money that she has been saving for years. How sweet is she. I told her that was a very good idea. Then tonight after I had put her in bed she called me in her room and asked if we could send crackers cause they last for a really long time. I love that she is thinking about this. Sad thing is I am sure many of them would LOVE some crackers.

Update... or lack there of...

Still no news of a court date here. I am so unbelievably done this wait. The last few day have been really hard, I wake up each morning with a glimmer of hope... which quickly fades as the day goes on. M and I are having the hardest time trying to figure what could be going on and why it is taking so long. We received our referral 5 weeks ago on Monday and our file was opened shortly after that (the following Monday we were told our file was opened with the courts at that point but we know it was opened before that Monday, somewhere in between that week) Another family that received their referral after us got their court date 9 days ago. M emailed our case worker last Thursday so she phoned us back this past Monday. I asked if there was any way they could check on the status of our file... I just want to be sure it isn't lost in the courts somewhere. B said no we just have to wait and that she wasn't worried... hmmmmm wish I could say the same. I also learned that when a file is opened it means all of our paperwork has been filed with the courts on AGCI end. I was under the impression this was something the courts sent out saying they received the file... so who knows where the heck it is now. We really want to bring our baby girl home and I just can't understand why it is taking so long. Other families have waited 1 week from their time of referral to hear about their court date. When can we catch a break? We have been praying so hard everyday to hear about a court date. I know it will be in the Lord's time and I am trying to trust in him but it is soooo hard to see this through His eyes when all I want is my baby home NOW.