Beautiful baby

Today we received 5 updated photos of our baby girl. She is absolutely adorable! I can't believe how much she has grown. Baby E has ringlets of black hair and the most beautiful big brown eyes. I can't wait to meet her, hold her, smell her, and kiss her. We are counting down the days!

I am so blessed to be the mother of this little baby. I am so thankful that God has given us this precious little girl. It is amazing how much love we both have for this baby. I just can't wait to bring her home. Thank goodness it will be very soon.

Please pray for our safe trip and that Baby E will continue to be healthy and that we will be able to bring her home as soon as possible. Also be praying for G that he will have a great time while we are gone.

Thank you Lord for this beautiful baby girl! We will see you soon Baby E. :)

Circle of Mothers

Since our adoption has begun, I have met some absolutely amazing women. Some of the women I have met online, through our agency, and others because they are in the same process as us. What do we all have in common? We are all adoptive mothers.

I believe there is a bond between mothers of adopted children; it is just such an amazing journey to our children.

It has been so nice to chat with other mothers who can share in the excitement of the entire adoption process. Mothers who understand how absolutely exciting and emotional the adoption process can be. When one is pregnant, it seems as the pregnant mothers never run out of things to talk about. I believe the same is true with adoptive mothers. It has been absolutely wonderful sharing my story and listening to their stories. I have had many mothers come up to me with great big smiles and congratulate us on our upcoming adoption to later introduce themselves as adoptive parents. This process had allowed me to met so many amazing women that I would have never had an opportunity to met. I hope to keep in-touch with many of these women as our children grow. There will be many situations in the future that I am sure I will need help with, and I would love to bounce parenting ideas or strategies with them in the future.

Whether you are an adoptive mother I have met online, phone, or personally; I want to tell you thank you for sharing in our excitement to bring our baby home. THANK YOU. :)

Baby E's Court Date......

I didn't sleep much last night; I don't know if I even slept more than an hour solid consecutively. What was I doing? Praying, praying, and praying. I knew that across the world an important milestone was either being crossed or failing to be crossed. You see, somewhere in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia while many of you were sleeping an important decision was being made about our daughter. Baby E's court date was last night. It is NOT uncommon for many families not to pass the first time due to not adequate information present, lack a paperwork, failure of an important person to appear at the court. All C and I could do was pray. Thank you to the Lord....We PASSED!!!! We are one step closer to being our baby home. Our 1st trip will happen as scheduled. :D

Thank you to all who have donated! :)

We are still in the process of collecting donations for Hannah's Hope and the Belthazatha Orphanage. So far we have collected 19 pair of shoes, 20 cans of formula, 2 boppies, 2 packages of preemie diapers, 1 package of newborn diapers, 9 baby spoons, and 1 preemie outfit,1 package of onesies, 1 bottle of Desitin, baby lotion, and some baby toys. Thank you everyone!
If you would still like to donate, here is an updated list of items that Hannah's Hope is in need of:
All of the items in bold are what is needed most.

Diapers of all sizes; please include preemie diapers and size 2

Developmental toys for ages 0-18 months - rattles, mobiles, anything that would be stimulating for that age group- MUCH NEED FOR THESE TOYS!
Baby clothes for ages infant-8months old
formula-vegetable based Similac, and soy based Similac, as well as regular formula
Children clothing: Must be in new or like new condition
Light jackets for all ages
Boys clothing for ages 6-10 years
Girls clothing ages 6-13 years
Underwear for all ages - please consider slim clothing
Shoes for all ages but especially for older boys and girls. Prefer crocs.
Bottles: Avent bottles for both 8-12 ounce feedings
Diaper rash cream: Desitin is preferred, but A&D ointment or 'butt paste' is also useful
Baby shampoo, and baby oil
Blow up balls/outside toys
Sidewalk chalk
Bubbles
Children's DVD and VHS tapes
Men and women's deodorant
Good quality electric shaver

Medical Needs - These meds are also very much needed!!!!

powdered pedialyte

Cannula

Sulbutamol (bronchodilator)

Hyoscine (antispasmodic)

Myconazole (oral gel)

Ceftriaxone (250 mg)

Vitamin D syrup

ETHIOPIA OR BUST!!!

I have just booked 2 flights for ETHIOPIA!!!! Which were $1,000 less than we were quoted on Monday! Thank you, Jesus. God is answering so many prayers, above and beyond our adoption.

We have a COURT DATE!!!!!!

I received the call today! We have a COURT DATE!!!! We received an email last Thursday informing us that all of Baby E's file was at the court and that we should receive a court date within the next 3 weeks. I was shocked that the call came today! YEAH!!!!
Baby E's preliminary court date is set for November. This date the MOWA (Ministery of Women's Affairs) will represent baby E and present the case to the court. C and I will not be present at this court date.
Our court date is set also! We will fly into Addis Ababa. We will meet our baby girl the next day. Every day, except for the day we have court, we will be able to spend time with our baby E. Our final day in Ethiopia we will have to tell our baby E goodbye and board a plane without her. I am still having a difficult time thinking about this. How am I going to walk away from my baby and travel to the other side of the world? Just pray that God will give us strength through this.

The bible verse that immediately came to mind is Philippians 4:4-7: ".....and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."

Please continue to pray that we will pass court the 1st time, baby E continue to be healthy, we will be able to bring here home very soon.

now what?!

Since the referral we have been completing all of the needed steps to accept baby E. After signing a whole stack of documents, chatting with our international pediatrician, social worker, and case worker, we submitted our final contracts into the mail today.We were hoping to have all of our contracts to the AGCI office by tomorrow. Since we are in the middle of nowhere land, when one sends a letter next day arrival, it takes 2 days. Oh well, all will be in Oregon on Monday morning when the offices open.

Our next step is another telephone conference with our case worker to discuss the court process, which will happen some time next week.

The good news is the Ethiopian courts open next week, which means adoption files will begin to be processed. We are praying for a court date to be set and that we will pass the 1st time. We are also praying that baby E will stay strong and healthy and will be home for Christmas.

Baby E is currently at HH in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which is a transition home owned by our agency. This is basically an orphanage, except many of the kids who reside here are in the process of being adopted. Here baby E receives all of her clothes, food, blankets etc. In the baby room there is one nanny to 3 babies, which is wonderful! This means that our daughter is being held, touched, and played with.

HH counts on parent donations to keep it stocked. We are also in the process of collecting a number of items for the kids at HH. If you are willing to donate any of these items (listed below), please let me know or drop them by. It is also going to cost extra to take all of the items with us. If you would like to donate shipping money that would be GREAT too. Here is a list of needed items:
For babies
diapers - half being for newborns
pull-ups
Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo
lotions, baby oils, baby wash
Diaper rash cream (prefer Desitin) - open to whatever you think works best
baby wipes
Advent baby bottles
Vegetable and soy- based formulas
infant bouncy seats
boppys
multivitamins for babies - liquid drops, also organic flax seed
The older kids (ages 4 through 13 years old)
Shoes - Crocs
pants
pajamas
dandruff shampoos
body soaps
lotions - for dry to ashy skin
regular size towels (pink and blue)