our congressman and travel prep

So, Dave made the call to our Congressman and they are ON IT! I don't know what the status is as Dave's busy at work and we haven't communitated a ton today. I hope they call him back to let him know what they found out. Like I said before, I hope the letter's in the mail today and that this was merely over-kill. I think it's neat that they're sensitive about adoption and wanted to take the time to help us. It's all we can do now so we conintue to wait.

I spend a good portion of my day making a chart of departures and arrivals and prices of tickets. After all was done I realized I hadn't checked those many flights for how many stops they made. Many of them, looking back, made up to two stops just from Washing DC to Addis Ababa. Ugh! That's 4 layovers total. Insane! So, I gave up. We need to just wait until we know for sure when we're going and then let a travel agent do their job. I got excited about some cheaper tickets then very disappointed with all the layovers. So, I quit.

Overview and Update

In April of last year we got our letter of approval from US Citizen and Immigration services to adopt a child up to two years old. In Oct. we accepted a referral for an older boy. We had a court date in Ethiopia in Dec. and were approved to adopt him. After that our agency was going to send in a new request to USCIS to get approved for a child up to 5. After the court date there was a lot of things they needed to get done in Ethiopia as well, like getting our son's medical tests done, getting his Birth certificate etc. Well, 3 weeks after the court date had passed our agency emailed appoligizing that there had been a misscommunication within two of their branches and the USCIS request hadn't been sent.

As of today, everything is ready in Ethiopia and we're merely waiting on the USCIS approval. So, our agency's mistake is what is holding us up. :-( We got an email from an agency worker suggesting that we contact our Colorado State Representative asking them to contact USCIS on our behalf. Dave is working on this now. They said they will contact USCIS for us but are looking for our case number which we do not have. So, once Dave can track down that number the congressman's office will get in touch with USCIS.

Our prayer is that this is all unnecessary and that the letter of approval will be in our mail box today. As soon as we have that letter our agency will contact the embassy in Ethiopia and set up an appointment for us. We're praying it will be Feb. 2nd as another Colorado family just got an ebassy appointment on that date and it would be wonderful to be there the same time as a CO. family.

If we get the Feb. 2nd embassy date then we will most likely be leaving on Jan. 30th. Please pray!

the delay update

As you know, our adoption agency submitted our request with USCIS later then they should have. We just got this email from our contact with our agency.

I did everything I could last week - and you did your part. They (US Citizen Immigration Services)do not process Orphan Cases every day. They have certain days set aside for Orphan Processing. They also do not usually notify me when a they complete something for a family. I did request that they do notify me. You will probably know of your approval first. You will receive it in the mail. Your I-171H is current, it just does not show approval for an older child.
You will receive a revised I-171H showing the extended age.

Ethiopian Calendar

Because Ethiopia follows the Orthodox Christian calendar, Christmas is on January 7 every year except during a leap year when Christmas is celebrated on January 8. The Ethiopian calendar year is on September 11 each year (our son's birthday). Gregorian calendar, which most of the world follow, runs approximately 7 years ahead of the Orthodox Christian Calendar. The Orthodox calendar year 2003 will begin September 11, 2010 on the Gregorian calendar.

Families traveling

Three BCS families got their embassy dates for January 21st. Two of them are leaving on the 15th and one on the 18th. The crazy thing is that they only found out a few days ago. The two families who are leaving on the 15th found out 8 days before they are leaving. It happens so fast!! I am very excited for them all!! Pray for them to have safe travels.

We could be next. . .

Reason for delay

It's our agency's fault and I am trying not to be angry. We had to get re-approved by USCIS to adopt an older child then we originally requested. We just got an email today from our agency asking us to write a letter to USCIS begging them to expedite our approval so we can still travel this month. There was a lack of communication within the CO and IA branches of our agency and it sounds like we've been waiting for 3 weeks for nothing. UGH!

Heritage and Naming Ethiopian Children

I found this on the internet and thought it was pretty important. We had decided to make his given name his middle and then give him a new first name. I realized that his "last" name is also his birth father's first name. Now, I think that our little man will end up with 4 names because I don't want to drop any of the two names he has.

Heritage is very important and traditionally a child grows up to know at least 7 generations of his / her ancestors. For example a child named Abraham Alemayehu Zerihun carries 3 generations of names, his own (Abraham), his father's (Alemayehu) and his grandfather's (Zerihun).

Why are children named like this?

One reason is that many people have the same first name so the father's name identifies them like the English "Robert - son" = Robertson.

The grandfather's name adds to this and also shows heritage which is important in determining status - the more names you know the higher your status in the community.

Another reason for naming children this way is that when Ethiopian men plan to marry, traditionally they send a delegation of 6 elders to the girl's family to negotiate the marriage. This negotiation includes determining if the bride and groom are related. Both families must provide the male lines of both sets of parents back 7 generations. Therefore, it is the names that are handed down through the generations that are the evidence of their family line.

just waiting. . .

I found that Bethany Christian Services has a message board for those adopting from Ethiopia. This has kept me occupied within the past few days. It's nice talking to others who've done it or are doing it. There are a lot of ladies on there who are right where we are, waiting for our embassy date. So, I could be "meeting" people who we might meet in Ethiopia picking up our kids. It's exciting!

Advice about adoption

I found this list on someone's blog and thought I would share it and comment on how we handled these things.

1.Get your ENTIRE family on board before you begin. There will be bumps in the road.
We didn't need to worry about "convincing" each other. We were both 110% on board the moment we felt called to start the adoption process.

2.Consider your birth order and do not change it easily. I had been set from the first moment that our adopted child would also be our youngest. I don't know why, but this was how I thought.

3.Consider an older child as well
I thought about this for a moment. . .but went back to wanting "as young as possible." However, God had other plans.

4.Realize that you are not in control and that God has a plan. He just needs obedient followers.
This was HUGE for us! Since I had my heart set on a young child it took true obedience and seeking God to know we were called to accept a referral for an older child. If I hadn't had an open heart to the Lord I would have passed up that referral. Soooo glad I was in tune to Him.

5.This adoption is not about you getting children, but rather children getting parents.
This was our feeling from day one. It's tough and it can't be selfish. It HAS to be about the child. This is why I didn't request a girl. I knew God was in control and would bring the child who needed us the most. I couldn't try to control it.

Preparing for the trip

We're realizing how quickly time is passing. It's been 12 days since our court date. . .almost 2 weeks already.

We went to Walmart today and bought a bunch of stuff for the trip. We got some travel size bottles, deodorants, q-tips, Pepto-Bismol, ibuprofen, children's Tylenol, suitcase tags, neck pillows, travel tissues and wipes.

We also bought a few pairs of lightweight, quick dry pants for the trip. They'll be easy to hand wash and dry over night. We've heard it's best to wear pants there even if it's warm. I guess it's culturally respectful which makes sense.

We're going to get a few other like a set of outlet converters, a document organizer some organizing packing cases.

We are going to take up a collection at church of stuff to take and leave at the orphanage. Things like balls, bubbles, toys. We're taking two extra luggage filled with stuff that we'll leave. Then we'll have room to bring home souvenirs.

On it's way. . .

Our photo album was sent off to Ethiopia yesterday. We're told our son should have it by next week sometime. They also said that chances are good he's already been told about us. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see his response. It's exciting to know that he will see our faces (in photos) soon. I hope he will recognize us when he sees us in person. It could be sooooo soon. I don't know how to prepare myself for this. It's just overwhelming and so wonderful! What a great Christmas present!

Waiting. . . like usual

So, it's been almost a week since we got approved and we were told it could be as soon as 4 weeks later we'd travel. That's 3 weeks away but. . .we may not know for another week. We are realizing that we shouldn't wait until we know the date to start getting ready. There is a lot we'll have to pack that isn't typical for our other travels. We're reading a lot online about international travel and making lists. It's a little over whelming but very exciting.

Our pastor just returned from a trip to Kenya (Ethiopia's neighbor). He said he knows how to pray for us now cause the travel part of the trip was tough on him. We should have many fewer layovers which will hopefully make the trip quicker. The flight from DC to Addis will be 15 to 17 hours, ugh! I can't imagine being on a plane nonstop that long but it'll all be worth it.

I think one of the biggest things that makes me anxious and nervous and unsettled is the booking of our tickets. They will most likely be close to $2000 a piece but that all depends on how much time in advance we can get them. Then there is the chance things could go wrong and we have to change them or get new ones. It just makes me nervous. So, if you think about us traveling soon please pray for peace for us before hand and that God would have him hand in it.