Update for June 2013

Well, June is almost over and I'm still typing up details about getting our referral.  We've been busy, busy, busy!  Plus, the internet at our house is horrible, so getting the blog to load is a challenge.

We had been hoping to have traveled by now (or at least know when we will be traveling) but it is moving much slower than we had anticipated.  

First off, I just realized that I hadn't even shared basic information about him.  His name will be Beck.  We are keeping his Ethiopian name as a middle name.  He's a whopping 28 lbs, but looks much older than what he is.

My original prayer was that we could spend Beck's birthday (June 10th) with him or at least shortly after.  But, that didn't happen.  We baked a cake and got him a couple of presents.  It was a hard day for us.....there are so many things that run through your mind when your child is living in an orphanage 7,750 miles away.  Thinking of his birth family and grieving for the loss that everyone has experienced.  It was tough.  But, we made sure to celebrate him and take pictures to put in his scrapbook.  We bought him a couple of "gifts" although he wont know that they were birthday presents when he gets here.  We got him a car rug (with all of the roads and towns on it that you play with matchbox cars on), a couple of play boats, a baseball bat & ball, and some train tracks.  The girls made him a card and Lilly drew him a picture of our family (complete with dad's mow hawk!)

We recently found out that the courts will close for the rainy season on August 6th, so we need to have our court date prior to then.  If we don't, the courts probably wont open until sometime in October.  They are also implementing a new court process when they re-open, so we don't know what that means for our case.  (I'm trying really hard to give the positives and not focus on what *could* happen)

We just found out today that next Monday, 7/1, will be the first court date, which requires the birthparent or "finder" to appear before court.  After that is successful, we will probably travel about 3 weeks after for our court date.  (If everything goes ok)  So, we will probably be cutting it close, but we will hopefully make it over prior to the rainy season.

So, I guess, I'm asking you to pray first and foremost, for our son.

Also, that the person who is supposed to attend court on Monday shows up.

Then, that we get a quick court date so that we can get our court date prior to August 6th.

Thanks so much!

We got THE CALL!!!!

My hope is to come back and share all of the details in a couple days, but until then, here are the basics.
On Friday, March 22nd (9 days ago) at 11:42 am, we received our referral for a 3 year old little boy.  We aren't able to share pictures of his face (or give "identifying information") anywhere publicly on the internet, so until he is in our custody, we wont be able to show his face.  But, I can share Sidney & Lilly's reaction to the news.

You may be asking why we waited to "go public" with the info.  Well, we wanted to surprise our family with the news, and it took over a week to do that.  It was so hard to not tell anyone (ok, I slipped a few times!) More details to come soon!

~Katie

Here's a bit of our summer

We spent most of the summer going to gymnastics and swimming.  Here's what most of our days looked like:


 For Father's Day, we got our dads tickets to the Packer Family Fun Night.  Katie's parents brought her niece and nephew and we had a blast.  It was a great way to end the summer!

April 2012...not so much of an update

Well, its been 7 month since I've updated. We have still not received our referral (match with a child/ren). Our agency did have a slight pick up in referrals Dec-Feb, but then they only received 1 during March.  They told us that we should receive our referral right around the one year mark (end of May/begining of June) and their most recent update says 12-14 months.  That means the end should be in sight.
I'm tired of waiting.  I'm tired of doing paperwork.  This is whole process is so emotional, and it is multiplied with all of the political issues that took place.  Yet, I know that God's hand is in this and I shouldn't complain.  So, I won't.  I'm going to keep looking at it as an opportunity to learn patience. (I obviously failed at His previous attempts to make me grow in this department, so I'm REALLY paying attention now!)

I guess that's about it.  When we do get our referral, I will let you know!
~Katie