No update this week. :(

It looks as though we will not be receiving an update on Elijah this week. Hopefully next week. I did get caught up on all my "regular" vaccinations yesterday and got my 1st Hep. A shot. I also set an appointment at the travel clinic to get the rest of them. The doctor said to call him before I leave and he will call in the prescriptions for Malaria pills and a z pack to take along with me.

I starting organizing my lists of everything that needs to be done, both for travel and for bringing our new little one home. Since I'm still laid up, making the lists is about all I can do, but it makes me feel like I am doing something.

Have a great weekend!

I sent an email to our social worker hoping to get some more information on Elijah. I didn't find out too much, but I'll share what I discovered. Bethany currently works with 3 orphanages in Ethiopia. Once a child becomes available to be referred to a family they are moved to the orphanage's (which ever one they are from) Addis Ababa branch. There are no transition houses. For us this means Elijah has been moved to Mussie orphanage in Addis. Since this is a new relationship for Bethany, I don't believe any of the families that have traveled before us have visited there.

I was also told that families who receive referrals for children ages 0-3 will receive monthly updates on their child. Children over age 3, bi-monthly updates.

Since getting this information, I discovered that 2 of the families that received referrals the same day we did got updates on their children today with new pictures as well. This makes me think an update on Elijah is on the way!

Tomorrow I go in for my first set of vaccinations, and to discuss my travel plans with my dr.

It's also the first time seeing my primary doctor since losing 100+ pounds!

That's all the update I have for now, but will continue to post on the process. Can't wait to meet my boy and bring him home!

8 months old

Elijah,

I'm thinking of you this morning and praying for you as I do often. You are 8 months old today. I am sorry that I am not there to hold you and care for you, I promise I will be soon. I'm sorry for all you have had to experience and all you have lost in your short time on this earth so far. I am so looking forward to starting our lives together, we are all so excited for you to come home. You should be receiving our photo album soon and your caretakers will start to talk to you about us. I know you are too young to understand what is going on, but please know that our hearts are already so filled with love for you. You have already become such a part of our family. Can't wait to meet you, I know it won't come soon enough.

The same day we got our referral for Elijah, we were also informed that our fingerprints expire this month. I was unaware the fingerprints could expire, seeing as how they never change, but they do! We applied for a new appointment to be inked again. Today in the mail we received our new appointments. February 12. This should still give us plenty of time to have everything filed and be done before it's time to pick him up. I emailed our social worker today to see if there are other things we are suppose to be doing while we wait, but she said for now we are good. So just waiting at this point.

We will be using cloth diapers and wipes for Elijah. I found some really cute ones for a great price on ebay and ordered them last week. They arrived yesterday. All we need now is a cute baby butt to put in them!

To add to the excitement and busy-ness of life, I decided to fall down the stairs this morning. I knew it hurt, but didn't realize how badly until about an hour or so later, when I couldn't even get to the bathroom. My mom came to my rescue and helped with all the kids (I had 6 today) until we could get ahold of all the parents and make arrangements for them all. Then she drove me to the ER, where I was told that I sprained my foot, and my knee as well as injured my tailbone. Looks like I'll spend the next 7-10 days hobbling around on crutches. I'm thankful that nothing was broken. Hopefully everything will heal quickly and I'll be good to go before travel time! The pain medicine is kicking in and the letters are starting to look blurry so I'll end for now!

We have a letter, and a name!!

It's been a busy Saturday around here. First of all we finally went through names, names and more names until we settled in on one we liked. We will keep "A's " Ethiopian name as his middle name, and his first name will be Elijah. I'm pretty sure this was on our original list, but had been pushed aside for awhile. The kids all agreed and cheered when we told them, so that made us feel even better about our choice.

I've been so anxious to get the mail all week, waiting for the employment letter, but today I had actually forgotten about it and didn't even make it out to the mail box until just a few minutes ago. Sure enough there it was! It has one mistake on it, but I think it should be fine. Because of the holiday on Monday, I will have to wait until Tuesday to mail it out, but at least we finally have it.

acceptance papers

This morning I took a long drive to the Bethany office. It's the first time I've been there. Usually our social worker comes to us or we meet somewhere in the middle. Had I not taken a couple of wrong turns, I would have been there in about 1 1/2 hour, as it stands it was an almost 4 hour round trip. Alison (case worker) wanted our acceptance papers this morning so she could get them out to Grand Rapids (HQ) before the weekend. It was a really good feeling to drop them off and have them out of my hands. We are still missing the letter from Jason's work, but she said for now we could include a pay stub. He doesn't technically get those either, but was able to print something off at work that showed a direct deposit going into our bank account every two weeks. Hopefully this will be good enough, I have lost all confidence in the illusive employment letter ever coming. It was a relatively simple request that has turned into a 2 week saga, with no result as of yet.

It was nice to see the office. Much smaller than I had pictured, and the only person present was the receptionist/secretary. I've talked to her so many times in the last 2 years, it was nice to put a face with a name. Silly as it seems, it's little things like this that make me feel like I'm doing something for my son. Just seeing the office where all the behind the scenes things are being done, gave me a small sense of connection.

We've started researching and pricing out flights. It's a little difficult without knowing travel dates, but at least is giving us some idea so when we are ready we know where to go and what to do. I'm not that seasoned of a traveller, so the thought of making this trip alone is a little overwhelming, but I know that the Bethany staff will take excellent care of me once I get there.

I don't expect to hear anything about a court date for another 4-5 weeks, but in the mean time will keep posting updates from our end.

"A"

It's been about a week and a half now since we've received our referral. There really hasn't been any more progress, we are still waiting for an employment letter. That is the last missing piece of our acceptance paperwork. Our agency recommends putting together a small photo album to send to your child. The nannies will use it to help familiarize your child with you. I found a small squishy one made by Sassy. I included pictures of each of us and one of the family together. I also enclosed a note card opposite each picture with the correct name on it. I think at his age, it's more for the nannies than it is for him, but it felt nice to be able to something for our child. It's the first thing we are able to give him or do for him.

It's such a bizarre and hard to describe feeling to have a child you have never met who is on the other side of the world. It has produced a certain angst and unsettledness (is that a word?), as well as a feeling of helplessness. For we now all we can do is pray. Pray for the process to go smoothly with no hang ups or delays, pray for the health of our little boy. Pray for those in charge of his care.

For now we refer to him as "A", the first initial of his given name. His given name means "God is sympathetic". We are still working on a name for him, but will keep his given name as his middle name.

I'll keep the updates coming as we make our way through the final steps of this process. It's quite a journey, but hey, at least I'm not puking everyday like I did with the other 3!

It finally happened

On January 4th 2010 we were finally (after 1 year of being on the wait list) referred a beautiful baby boy. 7 months old. We have been scrambling all week to get all of our paperwork completed and officially accept this referral. We seem to be having problems getting one form from Jason's new job, but aside from that we now have everything completed.

Unfortunately until he is legally ours, I can not share too much information.

The process from here, we were told, should take about 3 months if everything goes smoothly. I will then travel and spend about a week in Ethiopia and return with our new son.

This week 15 families rec'd referrals and several rec'd travel news. It was a busy busy week on the Bethany Boards. This is the biggest batch of referrals we have seen at one time, and was the result of Bethany establishing a relationship with another orphanage. It is amazing that so many more children will now have families.

Blog updates should be more frequent now as things develop and progress. We are also working on coming up with a name for our new little guy. We would like to incorporate his Ethiopian given name somehow in his name, but for now are at a loss. I guess we have time, but you know me, patience, waiting and being not in control are not my strongest points! Kennedi would like to name him "Stephika" or "Emma" because "if he can't be a girl he should at least get to have a girl name". Aside from her wishing it was a girl, the kids are thrilled, especially Tyler, who really wanted another boy around here.