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.