We Have a Court Date!

BIG NEWS! Our adoption agency contacted us this afternoon to let us know that we have a court date scheduled for August 4th. The courts are currently scheduled to close for rainy season on the 6th. Talk about cutting it close.

BUT…we are NOT out of the woods yet.

In order to adopt from Ethiopia, we actually have to “clear” two court dates. Our first court date is July 19th. We do not attend this hearing. IF everything goes as scheduled on July 19th, THEN we fly over for the 2nd court date on August 4th. If there is any kind of “glitch” with the July 19th court date (and unfortunately, this often happens in Ethiopia), the 2nd court date of August 4th may have to be rescheduled…ugh…let’s not go there.

Please pray that all the paperwork is turned in and that all relevant parties (birthmother, court clerks, judges, etc) show up on the 19th so that we can show up in court on August 4th and meet our boys.

…if all goes as scheduled, we should be bringing them home for good sometime in late August or early September.

Riding the emotional roller coaster,

BRIAN

Vaccinations - Advice Anyone?

As we prepare to make our two trips to Ethiopia, one of the things we've begun to pursue is getting our vaccinations. According to the info we were sent by Gladney,

"At this time, there are no mandatory vaccinations, although some of the suggested vaccinations are yellow fever, hepatits A & B, tetanus, typhoid, and meningitis. The CDC does recommend that all family members within the adoptive household be vaccinated for Hepatits A. Since you will be staying in Addis the whole time, it is at your discretion to purchase malaria medicine, since the malaria carrying mosquitos do not live in high elevations."

Soooooo, for those of you who may have already traveled or are about to travel, my questions are:

~Which vaccinations did you choose to get and why?

~Which vaccinations did you choose NOT to get and why not?

~Did you order the malaria meds and take them during your time there? Do you think it's necessary?

~What other prescriptions did your doctor write for you to bring with you when you traveled?

~Are there any over the counter meds you would recommend we bring with us?

Thank you for your input!

Preparing a Place for You!

Dear R & B,

I would be completely inauthentic if I said that I've haven't made a HUGE effort to keep myself busy with projects as a way to keep my anxiety at bay while we wait for a court date. See, ever since we first saw your pictures, I've been so READY to meet you and to bring you home, but alas, there is still a lot of waiting to do after a family is matched with their babies. And all this waiting is no fun!

So to help keep me distracted, we decided to wait to start preparing your nursery until after we received our match. Because you have both been living in rooms at the Gladney care center full of other children, we've decided to let you share a bedroom so that you won't feel so alone after we bring you to your new home.

We picked out a really cute safari animal theme for your room called Jigsaw Jungle, and I went looking for just the right shade for the walls. We even put three sample colors up on the wall to see which we liked best.

We went with the middle color green (called "Shagreen" at Sherwin-Williams) and went to town painting!

Soon, we were finished, and we really like how it turned out!

I can hardly wait to put your cribs in there and decorate the room. Preparing a place to welcome your children is so much fun! As I was thinking about it today, I was reminded of the words of Jesus when He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

I've always heard that becoming parents really gives believers a more robust understanding of what our God feels for His children, and wow does that ring true when I read this!

It is wonderful to read these words, knowing how much I long to "take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." It's neat to think of Jesus preparing a place for me, as I'm preparing a place for you! You're on my mind so much, so it is sweet knowing that I'm on God's mind that way, too.

I love you boys so much, and I haven't even met you! How great is the love of God for us!

Until I can bring you here to be with me, I'll be preparing a place for you. Just for you.

Love,

Mama

Three Years Ago Today...

Dear R & B,

Three years ago today, your Daddy and I got married! It was the best day of my life! Here's a picture of our first kiss as a married couple. (Yep, Mommy and Daddy kiss!)

The past three years with your Dad have been so full of love, joy and fun. Marrying him was one of the easiest (and wisest) decisions I've ever made. I know that much of my time in prayer as a mother will be spent asking God to bless the two of you with loving marriages. My own mother prayed for God to bless me with a loving husband, and her prayers were answered BIG TIME!

Your Dad and I believe that one of the best gifts we can give you as our children is to love one another for a lifetime. The vows we took on our wedding day were not just for our own benefit, but also for yours. We hope that as you watch us love each other and remain committed to one another throughout our lives that you will feel a sense of security in that. We want our marriage and the home we've created together to be a safe haven for you--one in which you can grow and flourish!

I've heard it said that the only day in an adult's life that is more memorable that their wedding day is the day that they meet their babies for the first time. For us, that day can't come soon enough. We simply can't wait to meet you!

Love,

Mama

A Letter to my Boys

Dear R&B,

How cool is that?! Together, you are Rhythm and Blues! ;)

I've decided that I want to write you letters from time to time as a way to communicate with you, since I can't be with you right now, and also as a way to remember this incredibly special time in our lives--it is, after all, the season of life in which we're becoming parents!

On May 24th, we got the phone call that we'd been waiting for. Our case worker from the Gladney Center for Adoption called to tell us that we had been matched with YOU--two boys! When we made our request for the age/gender of the child/ren we hoped to adopt, we said that we would love to be matched with a sibling group (but would also accept a single child), and that we would be happy with either gender. We were told that being matched with a sibling group that included a baby would be possible, but very unlikely, unless we wanted to wait. And for some reason, I had a feeling we were going to be matched with a girl, so when our case worker told us that we had been matched with not one, but TWO BOYS, you can imagine our surprise and delight! Actually, you don't have to imagine it. We looked exactly like this:

No, we did not pose for that photo, it was a live shot of our faces when we heard we would get to be YOUR parents! Not long after we heard the news, we got to open up an e-mail to see photos of our SONS. We have not stopped looking at them since, and each day we fall more in love with your sweet faces. We are praying that we will get to bring you home very soon!

A few weeks after we found out about you, it was Father's Day here, and even though you're not here with us yet, that didn't stop us from celebrating. Look--you even gave your Dad a present!

Let's talk about your Daddy. One of the things I am most excited about for you is getting to have this man as your Dad. He has been dreaming about being a father since before we got married. He has a heart full of love that he can't wait to share with you. As soon as we downloaded the photos our agency sent us of you, he created a file on his computer to store them in and titled it, "My Boys". That pretty much made my heart melt. He's also been reading a book about raising boys, and as I write this letter, he is sitting next to me in bed, reading The Chronicles of Narnia--a series of books he cannot wait to read to you when you are old enough. (Hint: Aslan is awesome!)

As for me, the day can't come soon enough when I get to hold you in my arms and tell you that I love you.

Until then, I'll be holding you in my heart.

Love,

Mama

Seeking Travel Advice for Tigray

Both of the boys were born in the Tigray region of Ethiopia--one in Mek'ele and the other in Adigrat. We are considering taking some time to visit Tigray while we are in-country, but we don't know much about what to do or see or visit while we're there.

If any of you have traveled to Tigray, we would love to hear any thoughts you have in terms of how much time to spend there, what cities to visit, sights to see, things to do, places to eat/stay, etc.

Thank you!!!

Advice, Please!

Well, I'm not sure that our feet have come back down to earth since learning our wonderful news last week, but we are starting to think about the practical aspects of welcoming to little ones into our home!

The main thing I'm concerned about is whether I should put them in one room together or in separate rooms. They fact that both of them will have spent their recent months of life living and sleeping in a foster care center full of cribs and other babies makes me think that they both might be more comfortable sharing a room. I don't know if it would be too lonely for them to suddenly be sleeping in rooms all by themselves.

What I don't know, though, is if it will be difficult to have a toddler and a baby with potentially different sleeping/napping schedules sharing a room.

I'm curious if any of you have thoughts or advice about this. I don't think there is really a right or wrong answer, but I'm certainly open to hearing what others who have gone before me have done!

Thank you!